The Wild Child of Konohagakure
by Sage Zeigfried
Summary: Growing up in the wild, without human companionship can cause a person to lose a part of their self.  This is a story about a girl and a demon struggling to find his humanity, while striving to retain his true nature.  NaruHina.  AU.
1. Chapter 1

Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto nor am I making money from this. You know the normal stuff.

**The Wild Child of Konohagakure**

An old man stood by an open window at the top of the Hokage Tower in the village of Konohagakure no Sato. He loaded his pipe as he seemed to stare contemplatively over the village. He lit the pipe, and took a small series of puffs off of it, as the early morning sun slowly rose on the crisp autumn day. His contemplation was interrupted by a slight scuffling sound outside the entrance to his office. As he turned towards the noise the doors were thrown open by a small blond whirlwind.

An excited five year old boy tore into the office as if the hounds of hell were hot on his heels. The Sandaime Hokage waved off the ANBU who were about to follow him into the room. His guards, two animal-masked robed figures, saluted him, then silently closed the heavy oak double doors. The young urchin watched the two ANBU in barely concealed excitement. After the doors closed, the Hokage looked down at the whiskered youth. He noticed that the boy had a couple small scrapes on his knees and elbows. He wondered what kind of trouble the child had got into this time.

"Gramps?" The excited five year old blond said as he bounced and looked around the office. Sarutobi couldn't help but smile at the enthusiasm shown by the hyper-active boy.

"Yes, Naruto?" The Hokage asked with a bit of amusement at the small whirling dervish. The blond turned to look at the Hokage with a fox grin on his face. The elderly Hokage knew the next couple of words out of Naruto's mouth would either be good for a laugh, or for a saucer,or three, of the aged sake he kept hidden in his desk.

"I'm going to be Hokage!" With that statement Sarutobi felt his pipe nearly fall out of his mouth. He grabbed it, and set it down before it could fall. His eyes narrowed, as he looked closely at Naruto.

"Why the sudden interest in being Hokage?" The blond, still wearing his fox grin, laughed with a slight nervous edge, at the close scrutiny. In an attempt to appear unaffected, he put his hands behind his head. He seemed to think for a minute before replying.

"I heard that the Hokage was the strongest ninja in the village. If I become Hokage, then everyone will respect me." Sighing in regret, about what he had to do, he walked over to the boy, and knelt down to look him in the eyes; the boys grin started to fade a little.

"You know, Naruto," even though he didn't like what he had to do, he couldn't allow him to not know what he was getting into, "being Hokage is a lot of hard work." With that he gestured towards the large pile of paperwork, then continued, "Regardless of how the people of the village treat you, you have to put their safety and well-being above your own." With this revelation, Naruto frowned and gained a contemplative look. After about a minute his fox grin returned. His serious air evaporated as quickly as a small puddle in the deep deserts surrounding Suna.

"Don't worry, Gramps. I promise, I'll protect the village and become the greatest Hokage, ever." The Sandaime Hokage could only smile at the youth's enthusiasm. Even though he is again bouncing off the wall, Sarutobi could tell the child is dead serious about this vow.

"I'm sure you will, Naruto. You'll be a great Hokage, someday."

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Shortly after he left the Hokage's tower, Naruto decided he was going to take a stroll and enjoy the nice early autumn day they were having. In other words, he was running around Konoha contemplating what kind of prank he could pull. He had passed through the market district without any ideas, and was in the middle of the residential district near the Hyuuga sector, when he ran across something completely unexpected.

As he neared the gates to the Hyuuga main compound, he saw a young girl about his age bolt through the gates and run down the street in tears. After seeing the girl, curiosity overwhelmed the youth. Without much thought Naruto followed, the escaping form of the female, making sure not to lose sight of her. After a few minutes of running, nearing the outskirts of the village, he caught up to her, in a wooded patch of an unused training ground. He entered the copse of trees where he found the girl, with her legs pulled to her chest, sobbing into her knees. After deciding he had to do something, he walked up in front of her, put on his best fox like grin and said, "Hi, I'm Naruto Uzumaki, future Hokage of Konohagakure no Sato. What's your name?" The girl, lifting her head to the spirited youth, revealed that her pale lavender eyes were red and puffy as well as her tear streaked cheeks.

"Um. I-I'm Hinata Hyuuga." Naruto nearly gasped as he just noticed that even though her eyes were red tinged; they had no pupils. For a few seconds Naruto's mind ground to a halt, while he tried to process such an exotic sight. Realizing that he wouldn't be able to cheer her up if he just stood there like a statue. He uttered the first thing that came to his mind.

"Well, Hinata-chan, you're too pretty to be cry, and I doubt the trees need to be watered. You need to cheer up." As Naruto was saying this he offered her his hand to help her stand up. With a blush, Hinata reached out and took hold of it. After standing up and wiping the remaining tears from her eyes it finally sunk in that Naruto had called her Hinata-_chan_. Her blush deepened as she looked down at her hands and she began rubbing her index fingers together.

"Um, Naruto-kun?" She asked barely above a whisper. However, Naruto seemed to have failed to hear her as he went on, with his chest stuck out proudly.

"You know, Hinata-chan, as future Hokage it's my job to protect everyone," lowering his head to look directly at her, his grin was replaced with a genuine smile. "and I promise, I'll protect you, too." With that last statement, wide eyed, she looked up directly at the smiling boys face.

"Um..." _He just promised he'd protect me? __Why would he do that? I'm worthless. _Her face dropped again as she sat down and pulled her legs back to her chest. _He seems like he means it, but why would anyone want to protect me?_

"Hinata-chan?" The voice broke her out of her thoughts, as she looked up to see a worried expression on the boys face. "Hinata-chan, what's wrong?" Lowering her head again, Naruto could barely make out as she denied anything being wrong. Refusing to accept that as an answer, he sat down in front of her and faced directly towards her with a look of determination. "It's not, nothing. If it was, you wouldn't be so sad. You can tell me. I'll do anything I can to help. That's what friends do." With the last sentence, Hinata's head shot up again wide eyed. Only this time a light blush was on her face. _Friends? He considers me his friend?_ Hinata's eyes lost their shocked expression, though her cheeks retained their red tinge, and began to relate her story to the concerned boy sitting across from her.

"Um it happened two years ago. A Kumo-nin came to sign a treaty. That night, he broke into our compound and tried to kidnap me. Father found him and chased him through the village. When he caught him he killed the man. The Kumo got angry, and because of that we had to kill my uncle. Father has hated me ever since then. Today was the anniversary of my uncles death. Father got drunk and..." Hinata's eyes glazed a bit as she thought back to earlier that day.

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Hinata watched as her father downed another saucer of sake. He had just left a meeting with the Hyuuga Council of Elders. Leaving the Council, Hiashi wore a serious look of rage which made it obvious that things had went very badly for him. He was on his second bottle, mumbling incoherently, when his face suddenly shot up. His glazed eyes locked onto his daughter. Throwing his now empty saucer towards the side, shattering it on the floor, he stood up and stormed over to her.

"It's your fault, you stupid bitch! It's your fault he's dead." The man yelled at the frightened girl, in a slurred voice, causing her to shrink back. "If it wasn't for you, my brother would still be alive!"

"U-um.." was all Hinata could choke out in a feeble attempt at a defense.

"I should have let those Kumo-nin have you. Get out of my sight!" With that he slapped the girl with enough force to knock her off of her feet. He then turned and stormed off leaving the little girl who promptly stood up, turned, and fled the compound in tears.

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"It's all my fault." By the end of her story, fresh tears began poring down her cheeks. Upon closer examination of her cheek, Naruto saw the signs of a forming bruise. With an angry look on his face Naruto jumped to his feet.

"It's not your fault, it's their's!" This outburst snapped Hinata out of her dazed state, as she looked up at the boy before her. "He shouldn't blame you. When I become Hokage, I'll make sure nothing like this happens again."

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After conversing about various things for hours, dusk had taken a firm hold. Though the dark crimson sky was barely visible through the tree cover, Hinata realized she would have to return soon.

"There's the demon brat. I knew I heard him." Both children, shocked by the unexpected voice, looked in the direction of it's origin with an expression of a deer in headlights . Entering the woods they saw a small mob of villagers, accompanied by a few chunin and genin being led by a jounin.

"He has the Hyuuga heiress. We have to kill him, before he gets the chance to do anything to her," another voice stated from the crowd. The rest of the mob made their agreement known, and they all started advancing. At which point Naruto grabbed Hinata's hand, and took off running pulling her behind him. As he ran, he could hear the tell tale signs of the mob following them. Twigs snapped, leaves rustled, and voices promising pain followed them in quick pursuit. His fear only multiplied when a few kunai and shuriken embedded themselves in the tree next to him just as he had stepped to the side to go around it.

After a couple of minutes of running, the children emerged from the woods, which was, ultimately, a bad idea not that they really had the presence of mind to realize it at the time. "Naruto-kun! Your arm is bleeding!" Looking over he noticed the sleeve on his left arm was cut, and the orange was slowly turning vermilion.

Looking forward again he shouted back to Hinata, "Don't worry. I'm okay. It doesn't hurt." Taking random streets in attempt to lose the pursuing hoard, Naruto would occasionally glance back only to see that not only were they not losing any of their followers, but they were, despairingly, growing in number. Hinata's heavy breathing reaching his ears made him realize that they had to stop soon.

After a few more turns, their luck changed as they ducked into an alley which contained some crates that they could hide behind. Stopping, Hinata collapsed against the wall into a sitting position and began to catch her breath. Naruto sat next to her though he wasn't even slightly winded. After a few minutes of rest, with no sign of their pursuers, Hinata was able to catch her breath. Looking off the direction they came from, Naruto heard the sound of ripping cloth. When he felt a sudden touch on his left arm, he jumped and turned towards what touched his arm with a look of fright until he realized that it was Hinata.

"Um, Naruto-kun? We need to take care of your arm." Looking over at the blushing girl he noticed the white cloth in her hands as well as the frayed ends of her now torn kimono. Relaxing and settling back down, Naruto lifted his sleeve, to allow her to wrap the silk around the cut, as he resumed his vigil of the street.

No sooner than she had finished dressing his wound, a voice came from the street just beyond the alley's entrance.

"I know I saw them come this way." The two children tensed, and held their breaths, while fervently hoping the voice would go away. Sadly this was not to be, because it was followed by a second voice. "Okay. Everyone start searching. If that brat did anything to the Hyuuga, he won't survive to see the next sunrise." Looking over at his friend, he saw the look of terror on her face.

_Crap, I can't let them get Hinata. _Coming to a quick decision he removed his goggles and offered them to her. "Here take these." Hinata glanced down at the goggles, then looked up at him.

"N-Naruto-kun, these are your..."

"Take them! As long as you have them, I'll be with you to protect you." He continued, "Now, I'll distract them. After the coast is clear, you run for your home. Don't stop, or look back. No matter what." Not even giving her the chance to reply, he took off out of the alley.

Almost as soon as he stepped around out of the alley. "Doton: Dodan." Naruto felt a sharp pain in his stomach, as a jagged stone spike slammed into and through him. Hinata could only look on in horror, as her first and only friend was ran through by a jutsu. _I can't give up. I have to keep running. I can't let them find Hinata._ He clutched his stomach, unconsciously channeling a little chakra through his hand, into his stomach. As his chakra enveloped the wound, Naruto's blue eyes started to bleed into red. His pupils slit vertically to the top and bottom of his iris'. The world seemed to slow down and come more into focus. Naruto was able to see details of the jounin that he previously missed. From the jagged scar running across his left cheek, to his missing ring finger on his left hand. As he took in these details he felt the pain in his stomach abate some, he turned away from the Ninja, and fled.

"He doesn't have the Hyuuga heiress with him. He must have done something to her! We can't let him get away!" Hearing the hoard behind him, he kept running while taking random turns, that will lead him towards the edge of the village. _At least Hinata will have gotten away safely._ After a few more minutes of running, he could feel his strength waning. Hearing the mob fast approaching and realizing he couldn't keep going much longer, he looked up to notice he was at the gate to the village. Knowing that he didn't have a choice, he took off through the gate and into the night.

**A/N:**

This is my first fic so let me know what you think. I'd like to thank Endymionrose for his help prereading this story.

Legend:

Doton: Dodan - Earth Release: Earth Bullet - Class A - A jagged, spiked rock shoots from the earth in front of the user of this jutsu. Due to the angle of the shot this jutsu is only viable from short to medium range. To make up for the range the shape of this projectile makes it possible to pierce multiple targets in a row. Range and the ammount of chakra used in the creation of this jutsu determine how much damage it can cause.


	2. Chapter 2

**"Brat."**

_...Huh?_

**"Brat."**

_What's that voice?_

**"Wake up, brat!"**

The agitation seemed to grow, the more Naruto ignored it, so he decided to comply. He opened his eyes and noticed he was in an unfamiliar room. It was rather large, with pipes along the walls, and the stench of sulfur nearly overwhelmed him. A dark red liquid dripped from various holes in places along the pipes. He sat up and clutched his aching head, when he saw the floor was covered in a pool of blood, but failed to notice what was in front of him.

**"Brat!"**

Naruto looked up towards the origin of the voice, he saw a large gate made out of a set of corroding bars with an ofuda scroll in the center that read _Seal_. It only took Naruto a moment to realize that a portion of the scroll was, in fact, missing. He approached the piece of paper to examine it. As he got close to it, he jumped back reflexively as a large set of red glowing eyes opened, and barely eluded the large claws that would have otherwise rent his body. Missing his target, and realizing that was probably his only chance to kill the boy, the owner of the eyes let out a low agitated growl as he retracted his claws.

"Who?" Naruto shook his head, "What are you?"

Approaching the bars, the demon made his glowing, red slitted eyes more visible. **"I am your prisoner, brat, and for that I'll swallow your soul, and suck the marrow from your bones." **The kitsune approached and revealed the rest of itself. Before Naruto stood a large demon that towered over him. Red fur radiated a flame-like chakra, and it's wicked sneer revealing teeth that each was at least the size of the boy itself.

"My...prisoner?" Naruto asked, his eyes widened in curiosity.

**"You are a daft meat bag, brat. I am the Kyuubi no Kitsune, and some bastard sealed me in here, and made you a living sacrifice."** The fox demon sneered, which quickly became a grin. **"However," **tapping next to the now damaged seal with his claws, **"as you can see, the seal has been damaged. It's now only a matter of time. Then I'll exact my revenge on those worthless parasites!"**

"What? Kyuubi no Kitsune? Prisoner? What is he talking about? Where am I? What happ..." Naruto mumbled to himself as he attempted to recall what happened, when realization hit him. _I was running, there was pain, and blood. Lot's of blood._ "Am I dead?" He thought out loud.

A deeply amused, but evil, laugh emanated from Kyuubi. This time, however, Kyuubi chose to grace him with an answer. **"No, brat. Not yet anyways, and without my help you will be. With the seal damaged as it is, you are no longer just my prison. You are my vessel. I can influence you physically and mentally, however, due to this accursed seal I can not take control of you, yet!"** The Kyuubi lowered his head and narrowed his eyes looking at the boy.

**"Look at your hands, Brat!."**

Doing as Kyuubi ordered Naruto examined his hands to see that his finger nails had grown and now came to points. Flipping them over, he noticed the end of his fingers were slightly rougher as well. "What is thi...ouch!" Tasting copper, he spit the liquid that was in his mouth out to see that blood had mixed with saliva from where he bit his tongue. Using his tongue to feel his teeth he could feel his canines had grown longer and they now came to points. "What is this?"

**"You will grow, Brat, and change under my tutelage. That is the only way for you to survive. You are my vessel." **

Naruto could only gaze on in horror at a look, that could only be considered a sadistic smirk, that spread across Kyuubi's face. "What? This can't be real. This has to be a bad dream! I must have eaten some bad ramen." He shook his head in disbelief trying to wake up from this nightmare.

**"No, brat. This is very real. You stand before me in your mind scape. Your body is in the woods away from your...precious town."** The last two words were spoken with mock sincerity. **"When you awaken, you **_**will**_** find a source of water and look at your reflection! Thus you will learn that this is **_**not **_**a dream, and that **_**you**_** are mine!"**

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Sarutobi's attention was broken away from his seemingly endless paper work when the silver haired ANBU captain, in the dog mask, entered his office. Watching the way the masked ninja handled himself he knew instantly something important had happened.

"Report, Captain." The old man ordered before taking a pull from his pipe.

"Hokage-sama, I have come to inform you of a mob that was broken up in the streets by my unit. I've sent some men to gather their ring leaders." The ANBU stated in a formal tone.

"Do you know what they were doing? Was there any signs of violence?" Sarutobi asked, his concern growing.

"There was various signs of violence that were discovered, including a small puddle of blood. No bodies were found, nor any other signs."

The Sandaime Hokage took a long pull from his pipe to help calm his nerves, as his mind came up with a dark scenario. "I want you to send a search party of your most trusted men to locate Naruto."

"Of course, Hokage-sama. I'll lead the search personally." The ANBU captain bowed, and he left to search for the boy in question.

After he was alone again the old man went to a bookcase, and pulled an old worn tome away from the wall. A small click was heard after it moved a couple inches, then returned to its previous position. Moments later, the bookshelf lowered into the floor revealing a secret room behind the shelf. Walking into the small circular room, he approached a crescent shaped table. Upon the table was a purple silk cloth covering a circular object sitting on a pillow. He removed the silk cloth revealing a scrying crystal. He eyed the seal inked from Naruto's blood on the base, which was created when the boy was very young, that allowed the old man to keep watch on him. Going through a set of familiar hand signs he used to activate the crystal his concern was only compounded when instead of an image it only a gray haze filled the orb.

_That should have shown Naruto. The only reason it wouldn't show him is if he's out of range... or if he's dead..._ He turned away from the crystal and left the room. He sat down in his chair and turned it to look out the window. He considered this turn of events and waited for news from the ANBU.

"Hokage-sama!" The ANBU captain exclaimed to snap the old man out of his concerned contemplations.

"Yes? Has there been any sign of him?" Sarutobi turned away from the window to face the ANBU hiding his hopefulness.

"No, Hokage-sama. Unfortunately there has been no sign of the boy. I personally checked his apartment and the ramen stand that he frequents. The owner hasn't seen him for a few days. I sent my squad to check the training grounds and none had anything to report on the matter." The ANBU captain reported in an official tone.

The old man, dismayed by this news, turned back towards the window and again began looking unseeingly over the village. "Start searching the surrounding woods and, send someone to round up the members of the mob."

The captain stood there formally as he received his orders. After Sarutobi finished speaking the captain waited a few more seconds then stated, "If that is all, Hokage-sama. I will go and see to the task."

As he turned to leave he was stopped when the Sandaime Hokage began spoke again. "One more thing. Send for Special Jounin Ibiki Morino."

The ANBU captains eyes widened slightly, though briefly, not that it could be seen through the mask. _He's taking this more seriously than I thought. I almost feel sorry for them. Almost._

The ANBU nodded his affirmation at the back of the old Hokage's head and left to carry out his orders.

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He could only feel his pounding head and burning throat. Curious as to where he was and what had happened, he attempted to open his eyes only for the the glaring light to force them closed again. He decided to open his eyes more slowly to give them time to adjust. When his vision focused he saw he was staring at a canopy of trees. He sat up to get his bearings when he noticed it, the sound of running water. Almost instinctively, he started making his way to the water so that he could quench his thirst.

"I should have reached the water by now. I've been walking quite a while." He, however, didn't stop since the sound of the water only got louder the farther he went. After walking for just under a mile, he reached it. A short distance ahead he saw a small creek.

The youth ran to the creek relieved that he'd finally be able to get a drink and sooth his burning throat. His hand had almost reached the water's surface when he noticed, his fingernails, now resembled claws. Slightly panicked, he glanced at his reflection. His eyes were red and the pupils were slits. His whisker marks had grown broader and darker. His jaw dropped as he began to gape at his reflection only to notice his canines had grown slightly and their point was finer. They were not as long as in his mind scape yet, but they were growing.

**"You see, brat. It wasn't a dream."** Naruto heard the voice in his head speaking to him.

"No It was only a dream!! This can't be real!" The boy could feel panic welling up inside of him.

**"Humans are so pathetic. Is it any wonder why they are prey creatures? Disbelieve it all you want, brat, but it was real. **_**I **_**am real."**

Naruto could feel tears stinging the back of his eyes. They started running down his cheek as he pulled his knees up only to scratch himself with his long, pointy fingernails. "I want to go home."

**"Stop your sniveling! This **_**is**_** your home now! In that village, are those who want you dead. Want us dead. If you go back there you...**_**will**_**...die! Now drink your water! I'm going to teach you how to hunt."** Though Naruto couldn't see it he could feel the Kyuubi's wicked grin in the back of his mind.

Draggingly he approached the water and began to slowly drink as he ran over in his mind what was going on. He had already realized something that would make the Kyuubi happy was, certainly, something that would make him suffer.

After having drank his fill he noticed something he had previously been oblivious too. It smelled sweet, soothing. Sniffing the air to determine the origins of such a pleasant scent he followed the source to his left arm. He raised his sleeve to reveal a make shift bandage of white silk which seemed to be the origin of the smell. He removed the silk to reveal an uninjured arm and took a good whiff of it. Then he remembered Hinata. His first friend short of the Sandaime Hokage. He didn't remember her smelling so pleasant, however.

**"If you're done enjoying your female's scent it's time to hunt. You'll still have to find a den after."**

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The young, freshly promoted, chunin was standing nervously in front of the Hokage's desk. In a manner that betrayed his fear he kept glancing back and forth between the back of the Hokage who was staring out the window and Ibiki who was staring at him intently with a wicked grin and eyes that spoke of the untold horrors that awaited him if he didn't co-operate.

"So let me get this straight," the old man said without turning around, "a jounin with a scar on his left cheek and who was missing his left ring finger rallied the mob to hunt Naruto?"

"Y-yes, Hokage-sama. H-he said he w-was acting on yo-your o-orders." The young chunin stuttered in fear.

Ibiki's eyes narrowed as he began approaching the youth who looked to be barely able to maintain his bladder control. Stopping with his scarred face a scant few inches away from the teens he began, "You are aware of the fact that there is no such jounin in this village. Now unless you want me to keep you... company... I suggest you tell the truth." The boy felt what little control over his bladder he had left fail him, as the warm liquid began to run down his legs, at the thought of spending _any_ amount of time with the Head of the Konoha ANBU Torture and Interrogation Force.

"My relationship with Naruto isn't a secret is it?" Sarutobi asked with a detached voice.

"N-no, H-H-Hokage-sa-sama." The panicked youth stuttered out as he was still staring into Ibiki's glaring eyes.

"Then may I ask what made you think I would actually give such an order?" The Sandaime Hokage asked with a bit of fire in his voice.

"I-I don't kn-know, H-Hokage-s-sama. H-he was jo-jounin."

"As Hokage it is my job to protect the village, even from the village." Sarutobi stated, his detached tone returning.

"But. H-he. The de-demon vessel."

_Someone's been revealing classified information._ Sarutobi turned from the window with this revelation, and cleared his throat gaining Ibiki's attention. Turning to look at the Hokage and seeing his expression he nodded and stepped aside to allow the Sandaime to look directly at the boy. On the other side of the desk stood a visibly shaking fourteen year old boy wearing a chunin vest. He had short, cropped brown hair. His brown eyes were wide and appeared as if they were planning their escape from his skull. The front and inside of the legs of his white pants were stained yellow as he stood in a yellow puddle.

"Who told you?" Sarutobi asked leaning over the desk, with his hands on it. His eyes narrowed as he examined the boys reaction.

"Th-the jo-jounin, H-Hokage-sama."

"Not that same tired sto..." Ibiki was cut off as the Hokage raised his hand.

"Yes, he is the demon vessel. More accurately demon prison. He is a hero. He protects the village from his charge." The old man said still examining the boys reaction.

"H-he had the Hyu-Hyuuga Heiress wi-with him." The youth stuttered as he was running out of things to say.

Sarutobi cocked an eyebrow at this. "And I suppose you've never visited or talked with any friends? You must not have to think it such an odd thing to see someone doing so." _So Naruto has made a friend. That's good._

"I...well..." The boy looked towards his feet in shame only to notice the yellow stain and puddle in which he stood. He felt his shame increase significantly.

"Well, Hokage-sama, seems he doesn't want to tell us the truth. Shall I "convince" him to tell it?" The boys face shot up to see Ibiki's face turn from him to look expectantly at the old man. Turning his back and waving his affirmation towards the torture specialist the boy felt as he reached his limit.

"I-I-I...i-it was th-the tru-truth." He stuttered out as his eyes rolled into the back of his head and he passed out.

"Okay, Ibiki, send in the next one, and send in an ANBU to take him to a cell. We'll see if their stories match up."

Ibiki nodded and turned towards the door to do as he was told, but before he opened it Sarutobi added, "And send someone in to clean up this mess." Gesturing at the puddle on the floor.

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He missed his lunge and his quarry had taken off into some bushes opposite the way he came from. Not wanting to miss this opportunity for food Naruto started running after it.

**"Not like that, brat! Must I teach you how to run, too? Damn. On all fours. That's the only way you'll catch it."**

"What?" Naruto asked puzzled.

**"Hands and feet, brat. You'll run much faster, and maybe even get to eat before you starve to death."**

Dropping to his hands and feet he started running in a very awkward fashion and continued for a short distance before his hand slipped on a moist, moss covered root and he slammed his back into a tree winding himself. He could hear the laughing in the back of his head as he stood, bent forward resting his hands on his knees, and refilled his lungs with air. After he had recovered breath, he stretched causing his spine to pop in a few places as his vertebrae realigned themselves. Feeling better he prepared to resume the search only to realize the trail of his prey had gone cold.

**"Eat later, brat, it's time for you to find a den. Find one next to the creek."**

With a sigh, and grumbling stomach, Naruto reluctantly complied as he started making his way back to the creek.

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Before having left the alley Hinata had tucked the goggles her first friend had given her away to make sure they were hidden. The girl, having returned a short time after twilight had sat in, went straight to her room making sure to avoid her father.

Reaching her room she didn't even bother to change clothes as she laid down curling up. She took out the goggles and gripped them tightly in both hands looking down at them through blurry eyes. She could feel her tears falling, saturating the blanket that covered the pillow of her still made bed, as the image of Naruto getting ran through with the jutsu played through her mind time and again.

The sun through the window woke her from her hollow sleep. She didn't know when it happened but at some point she had fallen asleep. Looking down she noticed she still had the goggles clenched tightly to her chest. Seeing them, and being assailed by fresh images of what had transpired the night before, Hinata wanted to cry. She, however, found she couldn't. She was too emotionally drained.

After laying there for a few minutes more, staring at the goggles and still nothing coming forth, she got up and went to her bathroom. Looking in the mirror she saw her blood shot eyes and the bags under them, as well as the mess of her hair. She splashed water on her face and brushed her hair. She had gone through the motions of cleaning herself up and changing, the entire time remembering the pain from the night before. The pain of what happened to her first friend.

Though she had no desire to eat she knew she still had to be present at the table for breakfast. She knew her father was going to be upset, but at that point she really didn't care. She left her room and began walking the halls of the compound towards the dining area. As she was about to turn a corner she heard talking coming from the next hall.

"Have you said anything to her yet, Hiashi-sama?" Hinata heard the voice of the elder ask curiously.

"Not yet, Shinji-san. I've not seen her since it happened. It doesn't matter much now, though. Reports say that the demon brat was injured as he fled the village. He's probably off in some bush rotting." This time it was her father.

_Demon brat? Is he talking about Naruto-kun?_

"Yeah, that's if some predator didn't find him first and make lunch out of him." The elder laughed in a pleased fashion, which Hiashi promptly joined in on.

Hinata's hand had found it's way to the goggles and she began unconsciously running her fingers along the rims as she felt her anger starting to rise. _Naruto-kun is a good person. He's not a demon!_

After a brief laugh Hiashi continued, "Now if I could only find that jounin that caused it so I could personally thank him."

"The scarred jounin, Hiashi-sama? They suspect it was an Iwa-nin sent to stir up trouble."

"Either way. He did the village a great favor. I think we should have a celebration in his honor."

Hinata had been holding the goggles in her hands, looking down at them, as she took in all that they said. Instead of sadness, however, this time she felt anger, hate. This man, her father, who not only made it a point to drive in how weak and worthless she was, was now reveling in the fact that the most important thing to her next to her mother was gone. The first person since her mother who had treated her like a person instead of a piece of dirt.

Then she felt it. Something in her mind snapped, taking the goggles and putting them over her head allowing them to fall around her neck she vowed. _Naruto-kun. I only knew you for a couple of hours, but I know you were strong and you were nice. You were willing to risk your life to save me. Everyone should be that way. Everyone should be willing to protect people. I promise on these goggles you gave me that I will be strong._

She hadn't heard anymore of the conversation as she made her vow. All she heard was the laughter and general enjoyment. Storming around the corner to confront the pair she glared directly at Hiashi. This display had successfully caught the attention of both of the men.

"You! How dare you? Naruto-kun is a good person! Much better than both of you! You have no right to speak of him that way!" She huffed after the outburst which had caught both men off guard.

Recovering quickly Hiashi returned Hinata's glare, not failing to notice the goggles around her neck. "You dare speak to your father that way? And where the hell did you get those?" Hiashi began reaching for the goggles only to have his hand slapped away by the enraged girl.

"That is none of your business! You will not talk about my friend that way!"

By this point Hiashi was fuming, barely maintaining his composure. "That. Is. ENOUGH! To the training room! Now!" With that he stormed off followed by an uncharacteristically determined Hinata.

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He had spent hours searching around the banks of the creek. It was nearly the end of dusk when he finally found a small cave a short distance away from the creek. Not that he was able to notice the time of day based on the light. For him it was still as bright as noon.

Upon entering the cave he took a long look at that which was going to be his home for an undetermined amount of time. It was about the size of a decent size room. The floor was sandy but still quite firm. It was a rough dome shape leading to an oddly shaped hole at the center. The air in his new home was cool and climbing various parts of the wall was moss fairly close to the ground and vines growing down through the hole. The entrance was small, though it did little to hinder his young form.

He didn't get much sleep that night. His hunger made it difficult to fall asleep, and the couple of times he did it was fitful and filled with nightmares of the chase, and Kyuubi, which promptly woke him up.

The sun rose an eternity later for the boy. Still groggy he got up and made his way to the creek. Upon arriving he drank a couple hand fulls of water then promptly dunked his head into the crisp, cold, clear water in an attempt to revive his senses. After about the tenth dunk he felt awake and aware enough to try to get him some food. Setting off, thankful his formless companion had been silent up unto that point, he began the search for food.

After working with it for the few hours he had been awake plus most of the time he searched for his den the day before he had grown more comfortable running on all fours. This allowed him more speed than he would have had running just with his legs. He had been hunting since his trip to the creek and, seeing the sun through the trees, he could tell it was noon. He had been following the scent for the past quarter of an hour and it was only getting stronger. As he reached a small clearing he saw a rabbit in the center eating some clovers. Not wanting to lose this opportunity like he did with the last rabbit he silently made his way around the clearing until he was as close as he could get, then he lunged. The prey only had time to look up and towards it's attacker before it was caught.

**"Good, brat. You have caught yourself some food. Now you can eat."**

"Okay now I just go back to the cave and I can cook it." The boy said as he hungrily eyed that which would be his lunch.

**"No."**

"I can't take it back to the cave to cook it?" The blond asked confused.

**"You can't cook it at all."**

"Why not?" The boy asked growing more confused.

**"Do you have any way to start a fire?"**

"No."

**"Do you know how many predators the smell will attract let alone the attention the rising smoke my draw?"**

"But..."

**"Stupid brat! You'll have to eat it as it is!"**

"But..."

**"Now!"**

Naruto reluctantly brought the little animal up to his mouth and started digging his growing teeth into it's body, wincing at the things cry of pain and struggle to get away.

Growing sick to his stomach and quickly losing his appetite he heard the Kitsune's mocking voice, **"Now isn't this satisfying, brat. Nothing like when your food struggles as you eat."** Followed by the demons sadistic laugh as the boy lost the rest of his hunger.

He let the thing go and watched it run away. After the thing was out of sight he rose to his feet and started making his way back to his cave, the coppery taste of blood still in his mouth. He listened as the Kyuubi laughed the entire way.

He knew he was in for a long night. Before reaching his destination he decided to make an alternate stop to get the taste of blood out of his mouth. He reached the water and stared at his worn reflection. He was tired and hungry. This was no life for a five year old. He should be in Konoha playing with children his age, playing with Hinata.

Having drank his water and getting the taste of copper out of his mouth he returned to his cave, dug out his most prized possession, and, curling up, brought the cloth up next to his face and dozed off immersed in the scent.

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The loud grumbling of his stomach woke him from his fitful sleep. He could tell by the hole in the roof of his cave that the sun had just began rising. He had been there a week and still hadn't had anything to eat. He was beginning to grow desperate. He was beginning not to care. He had to eat.

Not even bothering to make his normal morning trek to the creek, he started sniffing the air as soon as he left his cave looking for the scent of prey. He quickly noticed the familiar scent of a rabbit. Promptly dropping to all fours he darted off following the trail of his quarry. It took him the whole of five minutes to find his target and when he saw it he didn't even stop. It turned to notice it's assailant, turned back to run, and made it two hops before the frenzied boy was on top of it ripping a chunk off of it with his mouth. It's pained cries fell on deaf ears.

**"Good job, brat. I knew you had it in you."**

Naruto only grunted in response as he consumed his meal of fresh rabbit.

After he completely picked the bones of the rabbit clean, he savagely licked the blood from his fingers. Having his hunger sated, Naruto made his way to the creek. He looked into the crystalline water, and made note of his hair, the darkened shade of blond as well as the red roots of his hair. He also saw the blood on his face and clothes. He decided that he needed to clean himself up so he removed his clothes, tossed them to the side, and jumped into the creek. Having realized how cold the water really was when he jumped in he quickly made his way down the creek to a spot lit by the sun.

After he was satisfied with how clean he was, though he was still a little dismayed at the fact that when his hair was washed the color didn't go back, he made his way back to the shore. Making his way back to where he had originally entered the water, he saw his clothes were missing. He began searching frantically in an attempt to find them.

**"Don't concern yourself. They were only getting in the way. Now for the rest of your training."**

**A/N:**

I'm glad to see my first chapter went over so well. Please review, I enjoy hearing what people think of my writing. I'd like to thank Endymionrose again for his help prereading this story.


	3. Chapter 3

"Talking."

_Thought._

**"Kyuubi talking."**

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Naruto could only grin at what stood before him. He had just left his cave for his habitual morning trek to the creek, the dead leaves from the multi-colored trees crinkling quietly as he walked. When he arrived he found something in it that would satisfy his hunger for the whole day easily. He couldn't tell how tall the beast was considering it was standing in the creek, but he knew it easily towered over him. It was covered in brown fur, and more than twice as round as he was. It's ears were rounded. It kept swinging it's paws at the water, for what reason Naruto did not know.

**"That'll be fine, brat. Be sure to try to keep it's pelt in decent shape. You'll need it for the winter."**

Naruto finally saw the purpose of the bears swatting as it knocked a fish out of the water and onto the bank. The beast climbed out and prepared to take it's catch in it's maw when the boy saw his opportunity. Allowing his red aura to cover him, he leapt out of the bushes and started running directly at the animal.

The beast failed to notice the stealthy boy until he was literally on it's back. It felt the kids fangs sink into the back of it's neck. It stood and began trying to shake the youth from his back letting out a roar of pain and agitation. After a bit of the thrashing and evading the beast's claws, Naruto lost his hold on the animals neck and went flying. Flipping in the air and shifting his weight the boy landed on the ground, digging his claws into the soil to stop his momentum.

Having successfully stopped, he began to charge the beast that was approaching him on it's hind legs. The boy let out a feral growl while dodging around the bear's powerful swipe. He dropped low and raked his sharpened claws deep into the bear's leg causing it to emit another howl of pain.

Naruto used his superior speed to stay behind the beast as it kept trying to turn towards him. The two danced around this way for a short time before the bear dropped back on all fours to reveal the weakness the youth had been waiting for. He jumped on the animal's back again. Only this time he threw his right arm around the bears neck, piercing his claws into it's thick hide, and with his left hand he reached around and ran his claws deep into the animal's eyes.

The bear began thrashing wildly, trying to shake the boy; panicking from the pain and loss of sight. Naruto leapt off of the animal, and he watched as it continued thrashing and clawing at it's face in panic. He sat back and patiently licked the dripping blood from his hands as he waited for the animal to tire.

After a few more minutes of wild thrashing the beast collapsed to it's side breathing heavily. The boy proceeded to walk over to the blind and near helpless bear. He leaned over the animals head, and used his fanged mouth to bite down on it's throat, crushing the bears windpipe. He then jumped back to avoid the dying animals last feeble attempts at lashing out, and continued to play the waiting game as the animal slowly suffocated.

**"Remember how I told you to do it,"** Kyuubi voiced in his head.

"I remember," Naruto replied aloud in a guttural tone.

He took his claws, that began glowing red, and began running them around his fallen prey's neck using the portion he ripped out as a starting point. After making a full circle, he ran them down the animals stomach until he reached it's groin. He, also, ran them around the beast's legs and down each one in turn. When he was sure all the cuts were made successfully, he grabbed a couple of loose flaps of the animal's hide and, giving it a sharp tug, began removing it from it's body.

Having removed and cleaned his prize from this battle, he began digging into his spoils. He was gorging himself on the large animal, thinking the entire time of how he wouldn't have to hunt for a while. A grin came to his blood splattered face as he chewed a piece of the raw meat he had just ripped away from the body.

**"There may be hope for this brat yet,"** Kyuubi laughed in the back of his mind.

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"Hakke Rokujuu Yonshou." Hinata said, channeling chakra into her hands.

"Two Palms." She struck two of the gouges in the wood column.

"Four Palms." She struck four more of the gouges.

"Eight Palms." Her hands sped up.

"Sixteen Palms." Her hands moved even faster.

"Thirty-Two Palms." Her hands blurred as she continued striking more of the gouges.

Around the fortieth strike the exhaustion of her intense training sat in. She turned, leaned back against the post, and collapsed into a sitting position as she pulled out the scroll she had pilfered from the Hyuuga main family's library. Reading the scroll, she was completely oblivious to the fact that she was being watched.

Kurenai couldn't believe what she was seeing. The wall flower of the Hyuuga family, the girl she was concerned about because of the inferiority complex her father had instilled in her, had just about pulled off one of the Jyuuken's most powerful techniques. _Granted it has been two years since I last saw her. Something extreme must have happened to break her out of her shell. Poor girl. If I find out what Hiashi-teme did to her, he'll lose that which defines him as a man._ Glaring at nothing in particular, she vanished into a whirlwind of leaves.

Hinata, still panting, continued going over the scroll of her family's art. The constant training she was doing had significantly increased her chakra reserves and control. She smiled inwardly, as she continued researching a new technique. Having reread the scroll for the third time. She tucked it away in a hidden pocket on the inside of her jacket and leaned her head back against the post. Her eyes closed as she let the warm sun bathe her face.

_I'll do it Naruto-kun. I'll become strong so you'll be proud of me._ She thought in a determined manner as unconsciousness welled up and over took her senses.

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Naruto was making his way back to his cave, making sure to avoid the piles of white slush that still littered the ground. The cool, wet, freshly returned grass, indicating the return of Spring, feeling soft under his feet.

**"It's time you found a new den, brat."**

"What is wrong with my current one? I've been there for a year now." Naruto inquired from the voice in his head.

**"You nearly froze to death this past winter. You need a larger den with more areas in it. A larger source of water will serve you better as well. Your growing, and this creek soon won't be enough. A river would suit your needs perfectly. I'm not about to die because my vessel was too stupid to find a more suitable den. I'll not have you die from the elements, or due to the lack of sustenance!"** Kyuubi angrily admonished.

The boy cursed inwardly. Damn, _I should know better than to try to argue with that bastard of a fox._

**"Yes, brat, you should know better. Now learn that lesson so I won't have to deal with your ignorance anymore," **Kyuubi said annoyed.** "Now get moving!"**

Having already ate, Naruto immediately began searching. Under Kyuubi's instructions he gathered all his possessions in his current den, taking time to revel in the feel and scent of the white silk rag he still valued above anything else. After wrapping them in one of the larger of the many furs he had accumulated for bedding, he left his den that had been his home for the past year without looking back. Arriving at the creek he began making his way up stream.

After a couple hours of walking he found where the stream had branched off of the river. Looking up through the trees, he could tell he only had a couple of more hours before dusk began to set in.

_I have to find one quick._ He thought. Adjusting the pelt turned bag, he began wearing it like a backpack. When he was content that it would not come undone and fall off, he dropped to all fours and began running through the woods looking for large rock formations that might hold a cave.

It was well into the night before he found a small collection of lonely mountains that held a cave similar to what he was searching for. The entrance was fairly large, about ten foot high by twenty foot wide. A large outcropping extended out from above the entrance. The cave inside was multi-chambered. The main chamber just inside the entrance was about twenty foot high with a forty foot diameter. Each of the cardinal directions contained another smaller chamber. In the center was a small pit surrounded by a circle of stones. In the center of the stones was a pile of glowing embers.

Naruto removed his bag, placing it down quietly, and dropped onto all fours in preparation for a fight at the obvious signs of life. He began sniffing the air. Though the smoke obscured the scent a bit, he finally caught a whiff of the caves inhabitants.

_Strange. I've not smelled animals like these._

That was when he heard footsteps. Cursing silently he ducked into a shadow next to the wall.

"Ah, nothing like a good piss. Especially when you hold it in that long. Damn guard duty." He heard the masculine voice come from outside.

**"Humans, brat. Maybe shinobi. Prepare yourself."**

Naruto nodded to the voice in his head as he prepared to jump, and silence, the man when he entered. His muscles were tense and he waited, only for the man to stop outside. He growled, too quietly to be heard, at this turn of events.

He stalked towards the entrance way and looked, with one eye, around the corner. What he saw was a man who had his back to him. He was about six foot tall, wearing solid black, with what appeared to be a mask tied behind his head as well as a piece of cloth tied in a knot about the middle of his head.

**"Good he hasn't noticed you. Go for his spine. Sever it in one strike."**

This only confused Naruto.

**"Damn, brat, how stupid are you. The back of his neck, aim for the base of his skull. And make sure it's quiet! We don't know how many more are in here."**

Naruto nodded and charged.

His target didn't hear him. The only sign of anything wrong was the brief flash of killing intent he felt just before the clawed hand ripped through the back of his neck and out the front. His eyes widened in horror as he looked down at the blood covered hand that protruded from his throat. Slowly, quietly, he lowered the body and laid it on the ground.

_I'll deal with him later. Now on to the rest._ Naruto thought to himself as he began stalking into the cave to try to find if there were anymore.

After re-entering the cave he went to the chamber to his left. Inside he saw four figures in sleeping bags. Not wanting to take any chances he quietly ripped out each of their throats. The only sounds were gurgling muffled by the boys hands over their mouth. After the job was done he went to the next chamber, the one in the back of the cave.

In the back he found a couple of crates, four burlap sacks, and a small stack of scrolls. Not wanting to waste time and risk getting caught he decided he'd check this area later. He left and went to the last chamber.

Something was off as he entered this room. The air smelled sweet, pleasant, with a slight hint of flowers. There were three forms sleeping in this room in sleeping bags, though Naruto could only make out the humanoid shapes, not details. Walking over he leaned over the closest human to him, preparing to put his hands in position to kill it. What he saw caused him to freeze in place. It was beautiful. The soft features, the long dark hair, the pale skin.

**"Stop staring at the bitch, brat, and kill her! She is our enemy!"**

Naruto only stared.

**"NOW!"**

Snapping out of his dazed state he did as Kyuubi ordered out of reflex. Then it hit him what happened. He felt the still warm flesh of her face under his left hand and her rapidly cooling blood covering his right. He didn't look, however, he couldn't break his eyes away from the wide eyed, shocked look in the woman's eyes.

**"Get on with it!"** Kyuubi growled.

Naruto did as he was ordered and ended the lives of the other two women who shared this room.

_She... She reminded me of her... I... I killed her._ Naruto sat in horror looking at the blood on his hands.

**"Stop your blubbering, brat! They were our enemies."**

"But I killed her," he mumbled entering a state of shock.

**"Damn worthless meat bag. Snap out of it! We don't want our new den over ran as soon as we acquired it. Now get those bodies out of here!"**

Naruto complied as he gathered the bodies and began dragging them away. The entire time mumbling things that only Kyuubi could make out, not that he cared enough to listen.

By the time Naruto returned, having ditched and looted all the bodies a good distance away, the sun was already rising on the horizon, even though he couldn't see it. The sky had taken a purplish-orange hue. He returned to his cave. Upon arrival he grabbed some of the clothes he removed from the corpses, and wiped up the blood from the floor. He tossed the bloody rags onto the dying embers, and watched them smolder into ashes. He then grabbed the white silk cloth from his possessions and held it curling up. Sometime around midmorning the mourning boy dozed off.

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Hinata was heading towards her usual vacant training ground. It was still early and she should have been at the academy, but the classes had been canceled due to the fact that Iruka had been called away on a mission. She didn't understand why they would call Iruka-sensei away on a mission, but she wasn't going to complain about the chance to get in more training.

When she arrived at the training ground she took extra care to examine the area; to be sure there was no one to spy on her. She didn't want anyone to see what she was working on. After she was content that no one was in the area to watch her train, she moved to the center of the grounds and began to prepare to put the fruits of her research to use.

From all of her research she had concluded that the kaiten used too much chakra since a person pushed it out from every tenketsu at once. She had a different idea. She was going to use the basis of the Jyuuken to form a technique of her own. One that was less wasteful of chakra.

Hinata closed her eyes and took a calming breath as she began focusing on her chakra system. The crisp Spring breeze caressing her face, making it easier to relax. When she had entered the calm state she began focusing the chakra out of her palms. She felt too much leaking out as she began trying to restrict the flow into a finer point. Despite all of her control, she was having trouble forming it in the manner she had wanted. Sighing she snapped out of her semi-meditative state. Looking down at her hands she noticed as the ambient chakra wafted from her hands.

When the chakra had completely dissipated from her hands, she began the exercise again. She got the same failed result. Refusing to give up she repeated the attempt many times. After forty-five minutes she began growing tired from such strenuous use of chakra.

Laying down and looking up at the sky, she began to day dream about her first friend, running thoughts through her mind about what he would look like after all this time. Seeing his grin in her mind she allowed herself to drift off to sleep.

Hinata awoke some time later. Opening her eyes, she stared into a pair of red and brown dual irised eyes that were leaning over her. She sat up quickly and turned to the new addition to the training ground. Before her stood a woman in her early twenties with red and brown eyes and slightly messy long black hair. Her slender body was wrapped in bandage like cloth, leaving only her cleavage which was covered with a chain mesh, and her right arm where she wore a red sleeve.

The woman watched as the young girls face scrunched up in a look of contemplation. Then a look of recognition lit up her face.

_I was beginning to wonder if she was going to recognize me._ The woman thought.

"Kurenai-sama? What are you doing here?" Hinata asked curiously.

"I saw someone I recognized, laid out in a training ground, and I figured I would check to make sure everything was okay," Kurenai responded somewhat sweetly.

The girl nodded, smiling, "I'm fine, Kurenai-sama. How are you doing?"

The woman returned the smile, "I'm fine, Hinata-chan, and drop the sama stuff." Hinata blushed slightly and apologized while bowing. "None of that either. Now how about we go get something to eat?" The woman offered.

The girls eyes lit up as she returned her face to look at Kurenai. She nodded in agreement. "I would like that very much, Kurenai-sama." The sama said out of force of habit.

"Okay then. Come on, and please, drop the sama, it isn't necessary," Kurenai stated as she turned and walked away.

"I'm sorry, Kurenai-sam... Kurenai-san," Hinata apologized, as she began following the woman.

"That's better." The woman called back to the girl, who was following her.

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The pair of females arrived at a relatively small, though quaint, restaurant. Having chosen a table off to the side, they already had their food sitting in front of them.

"Hinata-chan, may I ask you something?" Kurenai inquired of her young companion.

"You can ask me anything, Kurenai-san," the girl replied looking curiously at her older companion.

"Has Hiashi done something to you?" The woman asked while looking concerned towards the young girl, whom she saw as a younger sister.

"Um...'' the girl began growing confused. ''No. Nothing out of the ordinary," she responded.

"Are you sure? You know you can tell me," the woman pressed. Hinata nodded to her in reply. Her face still had a slight look of bafflement about her. "Then why have you been training so hard?" Kurenai continued.

The perplexed look dropped from her face as her eyes widened. _How much has she seen._ "I... Well..." the girl stammered.

The older female, sensing her companion's worry, offered, "Don't worry. I won't tell anyone. I just saw you training a while back, and again today. I was just wanting to make sure everything was okay." The woman mentally congratulated herself as the young girls look of worry faded, only to mentally slap herself when she noticed a look of sadness replaced it. "Hinata-chan?"

Hinata's face fell to look at the table. "I... I met a boy. He and I became friends."

Kurenai, momentarily forgetting the young girls despair, said energetically, "That's great! Who is he?"

"Naruto Uzumaki," the girl stated in a subdued tone. That was when the realization struck her. It was common knowledge among the ninja what happened to the boy. The Hokage himself even posted missions for people to try to find him, though he only allowed people he trusted to even know of the mission. That was up until one of the search parties returned, with Naruto's bloody and severely ripped clothes.

_I wonder if she knows about them finding the boys clothes. _"I'm sorry, Hinata-chan," was all the woman could say, and even that was stated in a sad voice. The girl finally found a friend her age only to have him vanish, and maybe even die.

"That's okay, Kurenai-sama," the girl said obviously distracted.

Kurenai decided not to correct the girl this time as they ate their food in silence. After they finished, Hinata stood up and excused herself. The crimson eyed beauty could only watch sadly as the young girl left in a subdued manner.

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"Ayuusan Kisoku no jutsu!"

Naruto had been tracking the origins of the voice for the better part of half an hour. Much to his chagrin every time he got remotely close, to it's possessor it would move.

"Ayuusan Kisoku no jutsu!" Unlike the last time, the words were now accompanied by a sizzling sound.

Reaching the edge of the clearing Naruto was plainly able to see a ninja dressed in green baggy pants that were tied at his ankles, a tight green long sleeved shirt, and a vest. He had short, green, spiked hair, but from the angle he had approached from he couldn't make out any more details. Looking the direction the man was facing he saw a notable gouge in a tree which contained a few puddles of a bubbling green liquid of various sizes.

"I know you're there. Why don't you come out and we can settle this like real ninja," the green ninja said as he rolled up a scroll and tucked it away in his belt pouch, "or I could always force you out.'' He started flashing through some hand signs, ''Ayuusan Kisoku no jutsu!"

Naruto jumped forward and to the side to avoid the green liquid the ninja had sprayed from his mouth at him. Landing he could hear a familiar sizzling sound coming from the space he had just vacated.

The ninja was shocked at what he saw. He had seen many things in his years as an active chunin, even more since he fled his home of Kirigakure; to get away from the bloodline purge. However, never had he seen a preteen boy jumping out of the bushes in the nude glaring at him with red, glowing, slitted eyes and baring fangs at him. And that red aura, he had never seen or heard of anything like that.

Naruto, seeing his target was dazed and confused, took the opportunity to charge. The green ninja was even more surprised to see the aforementioned naked boy charging him on all fours. He snapped out of his befuddled state in time to try to dodge the boy's lunge, though he failed to evade it unscathed. He reached up with his hand, and he felt his cheek where the boy had raked his finger nails during the lunge. After a second, he pulled it away only to see blood.

A dark sinister growl drew the nukenin's attention as he looked up and saw the boy charging at him again. Quickly speeding through six hand signs, the former chunin yelled, "Ayuusan Kisoku no jutsu!" The green nin inhaled an excessive breath and exhaled another large spray of acid at the boy. Only to watch as the youth retracted his right arm and pushed off with his left leg to roll on his shoulder to the side, effectively evading his attack again. After the roll the youth was on all fours and charging again without losing any momentum. Reaching the, now wide eyed, ninja he went straight for his gut with his claws in an attempt to disembowel him, only to take a chunk out of a log that was occupying the space previously held by the ninja.

Letting out a growl of rage at this new turn of events Naruto began sniffing the air in an attempt to find his prey. The acrid smell of the green liquid was all around him, almost making it impossible to find his target. Then he caught the scent again. Looking up into the tree behind him he saw a brief movement. He tensed his legs as he kept a close eye on where the movement had been and the scent remained. The boy jumped and landed on the branch next to his target, only to notice he had landed on some strange liquid. It only took a moment before it registered that the liquid he stood upon was burning his hands and feet.

"How do you like my bloodline limit, brat? I don't know what kind of weird bloodline limit you have, but it won't save you," with that the ninja took out a kunai and threw it at a water skin that was hanging on the branch above Naruto causing it's contents to spill out on the boy. "You see, my bloodline limit allows me to turn any liquid into acid, and..." he cut off as the realization hit him that the smoke rising from the boy was not where the acid was burning him, but from where it was evaporating. The skin that had blistered and turned red from the acid burns, was quickly converting into healthy pink flesh.

"What? How? That's imposs..." his last words became nothing more than gurgles as the boy was suddenly in front of him. He felt the hand in his gut and the other embed itself deep into his throat as he looked at the boys scowling, fanged mouth and glowing vermilion glare.

After dropping back to the forest floor with the corpse Naruto wiped his hands on the man's clothes and began searching through his belongings. He removed his pouch and began stuffing everything in the man's possession into it, excluding his clothes. After he was sure he had everything, he placed the pouch strap in his mouth and dragged the body, removing it away from his den and placing it a good distance from his territory. When he was content it was far enough away, he began making his way back to his lair, leaving the corpse for the bears and other scavengers to take care of.

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Hinata had just left the training ground she had frequented for her practice since that day years ago. She was a little tired after working on her new technique. She had been at the grounds practicing since the academy let out for the day. Despite her weariness, however, she decided to take the scenic route home.

The girl looked up at the suns location in the sky. She estimated it to be around five in the afternoon meaning she had been strolling for about twenty minutes. She had walked the path she was taking every day since she started the academy. This allowed her to walk it unconsciously as her thoughts wandered. She thought about many things, school, training, and about Naruto. She chose this path because it took her right by the gate to the city. Granted it took her a good distance out of the way, but to her it'd be worth it just for the chance to be there when her Naruto-kun finally returned to the village. The wishful thinking of a young girl.

_I miss you, Naruto-kun. I'll keep waiting for you. I want to show you how strong I've become._ She thought to herself as her hand unconsciously came up and began rubbing the frame of the goggles she still wore around her neck.

She was so lost in her wondering, that when she reached the gate she almost missed the surprise of her life.

"Hinata-chan?" The voice snapped her out of her thoughts instantly and she turned to it's origin. Her eyes began welling up with tears of joy. Before her stood a boy about her age wearing an orange jump suit, bright blond hair, and sparkling sapphire eyes. His right hand was scratching the back of his head as he wore his trademark fox grin. That is until he noticed the tears. "What's wrong, Hinata-chan? Did someone hurt you?" He asked, his grin being replaced with a look of concern.

"N-no, N-N-Naruto-kun," she mentally berated herself for stuttering, especially in front of her greatest source of strength, since she hadn't had that problem in the previous few years. The slight agitation was crushed in a matter of moments as the overwhelming happiness took her again. During the course of her brief mental conflict she had failed to notice that Naruto had come closer, now only a mere couple of feet from her. "Naruto-kun, I was worried. I didn't know if I'd ever see you again," she said, while blushing slightly at their close proximity. Her hands had unconsciously gone to gripping the goggles around her neck as she was prone to do when she got nervous or scared. She looked up, directly into Naruto's eyes, tears in her eyes accompanied by look of deep sadness. "I was so afraid," Hinata admitted, looking down again, only to see Naruto's feet move closer. By this point they were barely a foot away from each other.

"I promised, Hinata-chan. I promised I would protect you, and I always keep my promises," Naruto said in a placating voice to reassure her. Hinata was shocked with what happened next. His arms reached out around her, and pulled her to him in a strong embrace. She was shocked, and bright crimson from one of the most severe blushes she'd ever had. She tried to pull away briefly; a torrent of emotions ran through her, only to stop when she realized this was what she wanted more than anything. She reciprocated the embrace, which caused the boy to squeeze her more tightly for a moment and let his grip lapse to where he was still holding her, but not as tightly. His body was warm, his toned muscles pressing against her in the embrace, her head resting on his chest as she listed to his heart beat. It was soothing to her. This was heaven. After what seemed like an eternity later, their timeless embrace was broken as Naruto pushed her to arms length. He gently lifted her chin up. She shyly looked up at him expectantly.

"I have an idea," his fox grin returned, "let's go to the woods where we first met and have a picnic." Hinata pulled her hand up to her mouth, giggling, then nodded her consent.

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They had already been to the store and gathered everything they needed for their picnic. They reached the small clearing in the woods where Naruto had found Hinata crying many years prior. Hinata was spreading out the blanket as Naruto was laughing and joking with her.

When everything was set out and ready she invited the boy to join her on the blanket. As he was preparing to sit opposite of her, she patted a clear spot right next to her. Naruto got the hint and sat down right next to the girl, who blushed again at the closeness. They ate the meal they had brought as they recounted what had transpired the prior years. In other words Naruto spent a lot of time bragging and going on about his time out of the city, his training, and his accomplishments.

"Wow, and you're not hurt?" The wide eyed girl asked her crush.

"No, it'll take more than that to stop me," he responded good-naturedly as he hit his chest with his fist. She smiled and pulled him into a hug at that. Then she remembered. She stood up and pulled Naruto with her.

"I have something to show you." She said as she turned and took off, pulling the confused boy behind her. They soon reached the training ground the woods was a part of, having left the picnic supplies behind for the time being. "Watch this," she then began showing her friend the fruits of her training, completely forgetting her earlier exhaustion. After running through everything she had learned, she looked up hopefully at her long lost friend, who only stared back in awe.

"That...your..." he stammered. "Hinata-chan, your amazing," his wide eyed look of surprise was replaced with a slightly cocky smile as he began to walk towards her. "I think you deserve a reward." He put his arms around her, closed his eyes, and began moving his face closer to hers with his lips puckered. Hinata closed her eyes, lifted her face, and puckered her lips preparing to receive her first kiss. She waited, and nothing happened. She began growing confused then, as more time went by, worried.

Hinata opened her eyes. Darkness was all she could see. When she looked straight ahead, she slowly was able to make out, that she was staring at the ceiling of her room. That was when she noticed the warm embrace she felt was not from her love, but of her blankets wrapped around her.

She sat up in her bed, tears began to run down her cheeks. _Another dream. It was so real._ She let out a sob. She reached over and grabbed her main source of comfort from where she had hidden it. Hinata placed the goggles on her lap, letting out another sob, as she stared at them through tear blurred eyes. _Why is it so hard? Why is waiting so hard?_ Another sob. _When will he come back? I know he's not dead. He can't be dead. Naruto, please come home...to me._ She pleaded in her head as she felt her heart break a little. A bit more hope of ever seeing her friend again faded into oblivion.

The next day the Hyuuga heiress wasn't to be found at the academy or at any of the training grounds. Her usual stomping grounds were all deserted. She went to the gate and sat from sun up to sun down waiting, hoping, with a forlorn look on her face.

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It had been over five years since Naruto found himself living in the woods. He had procured quite a collection of scrolls as well as some valuable baubles from the bandits and nukenin that he obtained his current residence from. His blond tipped red hair ran down to the middle of his back. When he wasn't hunting he usually read, and thus had every scroll in his possession memorized, though he couldn't make sense out of most of them. He had developed quite a taste for reading since there wasn't much else for him to do.

Naruto had just finished consuming his meal of fresh rabbit and was returning to his den when he heard the sound of leaves rustling. It was too high from the ground to be a land based animal, and there was no accompanying sound of wings flapping ruling out birds. The thing that caught his attention the most, however, was the fact that chain of leaves rustling seem to be heading right for him.

Agitation flared up in the boy as something unknown decided to trespass into his territory. Not wanting to wait for whatever it was to reach him, he set off on an intercept course. He reached his target in no time, considering how fast it was approaching him. What he saw approaching him was a man of average height with shoulder length silver hair. He wore blue pants and a blue shirt which was covered by a green vest. On his head was a blue hitai-ate with a metal plate that had the leaf symbol engraved on it. What had really caught his attention was the large scroll strapped to the man's back.

Much to Naruto's dismay, the man didn't even slow down as he flew past on the tree limbs over head. The anger in the boy grew, not only for being ignored, but because the man was heading towards his den. Refusing to let him get any closer,than he already had, Naruto dropped down and gave chase. He caught up relatively quickly and jumped the man, knocking him from the trees and the scroll from his back, when his claw severed the cord holding it.

"You! How dare you! Do you even know who I am?" The man demanded before even turning to look at his assailant.

The only response was a angry growl.

"What the hell?" He said as he turned to see the nude boy standing before him. _Why the hell is a naked boy out here in the middle of no where and why the hell would he attack me? Oh well, it doesn't matter._ ''Look brat I'm in a hurry, I won't kill you, but I'll teach you not to just attack people at random." He entered a taijutsu stance. He expected the boy, who was obviously disturbed, to flee, freeze, or even cower. What he did not expect was what the boy did next. The youth dropped to all fours, and darted straight for the mans legs, who responded just in time to jump over the racing form out of reflex.

When Mizuki landed the boy was already on him again. He saw the kid's sharp nails coming right for him. Not having enough time to evade, he threw up his arms to block. When contact was made, the man felt the boy's claws dig heavily into his forearm. Quickly deciding he had underestimated the boy, he grabbed the youth's extended arm and pulled him forward into a punch. The kid weaved slightly to the side. He turned his head to the side and bit down brutally on the the man's wrist; piercing it with his sharpened fangs. The man attempted to pull his arm away from the boy's mouth only to fail.

Mizuki's anger began getting the better of him after his failed attempt to free his arm. Using his free hand, he grabbed a kunai. He stabbed Naruto in the stomach. Fortunately for Naruto having to reach across his body to stab the boy only allowed for a shallow wound. This was still enough to cause the boy to exhale sharply and release the man's arm, and also caused new pain to flare in the older ninja's arm from his injury. Cursing at the pain in his arm, the silver haired man took a horizontal swipe with his kunai, at the boy's face, followed up with a roundhouse kick directly towards the boy's temple. The youth leaned back to avoid the kunai, and quickly rolled under the kick, dragging his claws though the ninja's achilles' tendon and up halfway through the gastrocnemius muscle on the back of his calf, on his supporting leg, making a spray of blood arc through the air; a mono-chromatic parody of a rainbow.

This placed all of Mizuki's weight on an mangled leg, that had no possible way to support him. Which caused him to lose his balance and fall. The momentum of the kick placed him on his stomach, lying perpendicular to Naruto. Lowering his hand as the man fell, the youth knew this was the perfect opportunity. He was on the fallen ninja's back the second he hit the ground preventing him from making any attempt to get away. The prostrate man didn't even have the chance to react as the ferine child bit into the back of his neck and gave a sharp twist, severing his spinal cord.

Naruto got up and looked down at his most recent kill. He nodded at his victory and began rummaging through the man's belongings. After gathering everything that appeared to be worth while, he made his way over to the scroll and tied it to his back using it's strap. After it was secured he dragged the fresh corpse to the border of his territory and left it for whatever animals and scavengers to find. Having finished that task, Naruto made his way to his den to store his new possessions.

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Hinata had just celebrated her eleventh birthday. No one else joined her for the celebration, however. Her father still considered her weak since he knew nothing of her training. She wanted nothing to do with that man and the only other person that had ever witnessed it despised the man almost as much as her.

She had another dream of Naruto the night before. They had become more and more frequent, and they were seriously starting to take their toll on her mental state. She went to the academy a mere shell of her former self, when she actually went. Her grades in the academy were slipping badly. Her training also suffered as she went to the training ground less and less. Eventually it had stopped all together.

It was auspicious for her; that they were on a winter break from classes at the academy. She walked through the streets of the village drudgingly, the bags of an insomniac under her eyes. She wore her general black pants and black shirt as well as her tan fur-lined jacket, but anyone looking at her could tell that she was occupied when she dressed herself by the general state of disarray. As she walked, her eyes downcast and unseeing, she was unaware of the world around her.

"Hey, Hinata. How's it going?" A voice called to her which she didn't seem to hear. "Hinata? You okay?" The voice called to her again as moments passed. A boy, about her age, with black, feral looking hair, ran up to her. He wore dark gray pants, and a lighter gray coat that was lined with black fur, and the usual dark blue ninja sandles. When he caught up with her he turned his dark eyes toward her revealing the red triangle marks on his cheeks.

"Hinata? Hello?" He said again in an attempt to catch her attention. "Hello?" He waved his hand in front of her face. Agitation got the better of him after a few more moments. He grabbed her shoulders and turned her to face him. "Hinata, what's wrong? Talk to me!" He pleaded, concern evident in his voice. Hinata didn't even look up, her unfocused eyes just looked through him. Kiba finally gave up his attempt to catch his classmates attention and turned to leave, leaving her to her own devices.

Hinata, completely oblivious to his attempts to converse with her, turned back and began walking the streets again. Her mind was occupied replaying the images of the previous nights dream. Hope had long since gave away to despair from the dreams. It had been five years since her friend and crush had vanished, and three years since the dreams began.

Following the path she had been walking, she found herself at the city gates. Not even missing a beat she walked through the gates and out into the woods, as she had done in her dream. She was so distracted that she failed to notice the movement in the trees that closed in on her. All she noticed was the strike to the back of her neck that knocked her out.

"To think, the Hyuuga bitch would come right to us," a blond man, wearing a loose fitting, dark tan outfit, and a blue kumo hitai-ate with a scratch across it, said to his companion.

"Sure made our job easy," the black haired ninja in the dark blue outfit, responded. He wore a similar hitai-ate that depicted him as a kumo nukenin. They quickly examined the area, and when they were content that no one had witnessed what happened, they grabbed the girl and took off. The blond nukenin had thrown her over his shoulder while the black haired nin pulled out ropes to prepare to bind the girl. After having put some distance between them and the village they stopped. The blond man dropped the unconscious girl on the ground and his friend bound and gagged the young girl.

"Let's go. They'll be waiting for us," the blond ninja stated, picking up the bound girl and tossing her back on his shoulder. His black haired companion nodded his reply and the both began making their way to the fire country border.

**A/N:**

The same stuff applies. I enjoy receiving reviews, and they inspire me to work quicker. I would like to thank my prereader Enymionrose. Enjoy.

Legend:

Aryuusan Kisoku - Acid Breath - Class A - 6 Seals - After the completion of the seals for this jutsu the user sprays a highly corrosive acid from his mouth.

Hakke Rokujuu Yonshou - Sixty Four Points of Divinity. - One of the Jyuuken's most powerful techniques. This taijutsu attack is used to seal sixty four of the opponents tenketsu.

The Gastrocnemius - (pronounced /gæs.trak.ni.mi.əs/) muscle is a powerful superficial muscle that is in the back part of the lower leg (the calf). It runs from its 2 heads just above the knee to the heel, and is involved in standing and walking. Along with the soleus muscle it forms the calf muscle.


	4. Chapter 4

"Talking."

_Thought._

**"Kyuubi talking."**

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It was a cold winter morning. A blanket of slowly melting snow covered the forest floor, interrupted only by twigs and roots sticking up through it. Naruto, having failed to find any prey, decided to fish. He was standing waist deep in the water. He did feel cold, but between Kyuubi's healing and the fact that he had been in the wild for over five years, it didn't effect him much. Watching the water's surface carefully, he spotted movement. Not wasting a moment, his palm flat, with his fingers extended out straight, he thrust his claws into the water. A taijutsu expert would call the attack a spear hand, Naruto didn't know nor care about that,he just thought it was the easiest way to catch a fish. His spear hand pierced the fish through it's side.

Having caught his meal, the boy left the water and took a bite out of his fresh catch. As he sat there and consumed his meal, the wind changed. Carried on the wind was a smell that caught the feral child's attention. Mixed in with the various other odors was a very familiar scent, along with the stench of two males.

**"Be wary of those other scents, brat. Don't forget your training."**

Naruto closed his eyes, slowed his breathing, and focused his awareness inward. He started searching for his kitsune energy like the Kyuubi taught him years before. As he was searching he couldn't help but remember back to that day.

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An eight year old Naruto was washing himself in a stream. He had just been interrupted from finishing his latest meal, a young deer. He was showing some scrapes and small bruises from a scuffle with a pack of hungry wolves. His worse injury was a bite on his right thigh, where a wolf had jumped him and drew him away from his kill. As he was dealing with the aggressive wolf, the other pack members grabbed the deer, and fled. In a fit of anger, he grabbed the wolf by the upper and lower jaw, and forced them apart as hard as he could. A sickening crack sounded out in the area of the woods. The wolf with his now broken jaw tried to escape from Naruto's iron grasp. It was a futile attempt, as soon as it tried backing away, Naruto twisted it's head counter-clockwise in a quick blur, snapping the wolf's neck. In pain and with a limp, Naruto decided to write the rest of his meal off, and take a quick bath. As he was finishing his bath, he heard Kyuubi growling in his mind.

**''Stupid brat. What good are you, if your meal gets taken away by a bunch of filthy mutts?''**

''Shut up, ya mangy fur-ball,'' Naruto grumbled. ''I was outnumbered and injured. What was I supposed to do?'' Naruto lamented, while getting out of the stream.

**''Use your kitsune powers, brat. You may only be a kit, but you should still have the Kitsune Illusion.'' **Naruto was flabbergasted. He had no idea what kitsune powers were, but they sounded interesting.

"Kitsune...Illusion?'' Naruto stumbled out. If he had these powers, he was currently unaware of how to access them. ''Um, Kyuubi? How do I use these powers?''

**''As each kitsune is different from one another, it is different for each kitsune. The first thing you need to do, is locate your powers. You do that by focusing your awareness inside of yourself. Shut out the rest of the world, and concentrate. For me it is an orb of shadows inside my mind. Once you locate it, you will need to try and manipulate it, to do as you wish. In this case, you will want it to cover you in an illusion of invisibility. As you age, your power will grow with you, and grow stronger. All of our abilities are based on illusions, but we can make illusions that seem so real to the one viewing them, that it will affect them as if it were reality.''**

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It took Naruto a couple of days to find that center of power in himself, but when he did, he practiced with this technique till even the animals of the forest couldn't sense him. As he located his kitsune power, he couldn't help but smirk as he noticed, not for the first time, that it had the same shape as the seal on his stomach, and the color was a dark royal purple. Manipulating the outer edge of the swirl, he forced it to cover over himself. Almost as if someone was erasing him from existence, he slowly disappeared from view. He started to follow the scent of the girl who meant more to him, than anything else in this world.

The pair of Kumo nukenin had been traveling non-stop since they kidnapped the Hyuuga girl the previous evening. The sun was almost directly overhead, and a slight breeze was blowing from the north-west, gently stirring the snow on the ground.

"Hey Takeru, let's stop for a break," the black haired chunin said.

"Yeah, Saburou, that sounds good. We should have put enough distance between Konoha and us to allow for a small break, and the village will be patient as long as we return with the Hyuuga bitch," the blond jounin returned while standing Hinata, who was gagged and had her arms tied behind her back, next to him. ''I am glad we stopped. This bitch keeps on kicking me,'' he growled while pulling out a bit more rope. ''If she keeps at it, I might just break both of her ankles. So, Saburou. What are you going to do once we get our nukenin status revoked?'' He asked while tying up the now shaking girls legs.

''I don't know, Takeru,'' Saburou hesitantly stated. After a few moments of thought, he replied, ''Maybe I will take my share of the reward, from the Hyuuga's eyes, and settle down. Ya know, start a family.''

After about one minute, with Saburou staring intently at Hinata, had passed, he lustfully stated, "Too bad we don't have the time. I'd sure like to have an heir with the byakugan. Not to mention the fun I could have while making it." The chunin grinned lecherously and began to approach the Hyuuga heiress, whose eyes widened considerably in fear, "Well I suppose since we are taking a breather, a little fun won't hurt." Saburou's grinned widened as he started untying the knot on his belt, ''Kumo never did say anything about bringing her back as a virgin after all.''

Sensing a chakra surge accompanied by a flood of killing intent the blond jounin reacted quickly. "Look out!" He yelled to his friend. A shimmer appeared behind Saburou, and was upon him in an instant.

Saburou turned, just in time to avoid getting his spinal cord severed, only to have his stomach slashed open from one side to the other. Clutching his stomach to hold in his organs, he began looking around. Then he saw what seemed to be a red haired boy fade into existence charging his blond haired companion on all fours covered in an intense red aura.

Takeru saw the boy, covered in a red aura, charging him with a look of unbridled rage and a red haze emitting from his glowing eyes. Naruto reached the blond and sent a flurry of vicious slashes at him quickly forcing him on the defensive and away from the girl. The man's attempts at a defense were feeble at best compared to the demon child's onslaught, however. The jounin dodged to the side of a downward slash, right into a side swipe. The power of the attack forced his guard to the side and removed a chunk of flesh from his shoulder. After receiving the injury, Takeru channeled as much chakra as he could into his legs, and jumped as far away from the crazed kid as he could; holding his injured shoulder.

The berserk boy threw his head back and let out a demonic roar which echoed through the forest. Dropping back to all fours, Naruto turned back to the disemboweled chunin. The nukenin felt what blood he had left drain from his face, as he stared into the piercing ruby eyes that glared at him. He couldn't move as the boy charged him due to the risk of his bowels spilling out and the overpowering feeling of his killing intent, not that his speed would have allowed him to get away. In less than a second the demon child was on him, his claws tearing through his ribs, as if they were wet tissue, one on each side shredding his lungs. He wanted to cry out in pain from feeling his lungs getting slashed as the youth took firm hold of his ribs, but the pain, shock, and what was left of his lungs filled with blood, prevented it. His wide eyes stared into demonic vermilion orbs, no thoughts filled his mind, only fear and pain. Naruto roared in Saburou's face as he snapped the man's ribs and pulled them apart, effectively opening the chunin's chest and exposing all of his organs to the outside world. Darkness approached the edge of Saburou's vision. Naruto reached into the dying man's open chest cavity, he grabbed the erratic beating heart, and ripped it out. Saburou felt immense pain, and the last thing he saw before he succumbed to the abyss of death, was the demon child holding his still beating heart.

Dropping the life beating organ, Naruto turned back to the blond jounin who was snapping out of the shock of seeing his companion killed in such a brutal manner in a matter of seconds. He was slowly fighting off the berserk demon child's killing intent. Once he was in complete control again, he dropped a couple exploding notes, and channeled enough chakra for them to go off in a couple seconds. He then began racing through hand seals in an attempt to pull off a jutsu before the youth was on him again.

As the youth came charging towards him, Takeru used a quick kawarimi with his partner's corpse. Naruto jumped over the corpse, just as the exploding notes went off. Saburou's corpse exploded sending half-cooked pieces of flesh and shrapnel, from many destroyed kunai in a demented form of a claymore mine everywhere. Small jagged red hot metal tore deep into the boys body, as he was sent flying into the tree's canopy. Hissing to himself in pain, Naruto channeled as much of the Kyuubi's chakra as he could. All along his body his flesh started to split open, peel off, and heal nearly instantly. After a few seconds small bloody pieces of metal slowly were pushed out of his body. Tears of blood fell from his eyes, as Naruto howled in fury and pain, as he stopped channeling that amount of the sealed demon's chakra.

During this time, Takeru decided that he needed to get as far away, from this demon in a boy's body, as he could. He grabbed the bound Hinata, and fled as fast as he could. Naruto tracked him from the treetops, as he allowed his body time to heal up from his cauterized wounds.

**Stupid, brat. What were you thinking? How many times do I have to tell you? In an ambush, **_**always**_** take out the leader first.**

Naruto scowled, ''You heard him as easily as I. He was going to mate with her.'' Biting his tongue to stop himself from growling, he continued, ''I couldn't control myself, a part of me snapped. The last thing I remember, I was preparing to circle around to attack the blond guy, then the next thing I know, I was in the treetops wounded. What the hell did he do to me? I have never felt so much pain before."

A low amused laugh was the Kyuubi's response. ** "I guess I can forgive you this one time for your ignorance. It is amusing how little you know about your own body, and the instincts that come with it."**

Naruto was fairly close to going haywire from Kyuubi's roundabout reply, ''Just tell me, I am neither in the mood, nor have the time for these stupid games. I still have to destroy that bastard. I will kill anyone who threatens my mate!'' _Mate?! What the hell is wrong with me? Why am I thinking of her in those terms?_

**"Ha ha ha, it looks like the brat is growing up. I will explain it in the simplest terms possible, so your inferior mind can understand, brat. Demons age, just as humans do. Granted demons slow down the aging process after they come of age, or as humans term puberty, and we are nigh immortal. After we come of age, our bodies start searching for a mate; someone who can bear us strong healthy children. Our mates are decided from the choices we are aware of, as long as they fit the right criteria. You were kind of on the short end of the stick being as you have had only one female companion in your whole life to choose from. It looks like you are almost completely healed from your previous wounds, I will explain the rest to you later. Now you must go save your...mate."**

Naruto's head was spinning, with the influx of information he had just received. _I want her to bear my children? I want to mate with her?_ His cheeks turned a bit red as his thoughts turned in that direction. _It makes sense now. Why I always found her scent enticing, and yet, at the same time calming. The only thing I know about mating though is from what I have seen the animals do here in the woods. What if she doesn't want me, or if she has found someone else in the village, since I have been gone so long?_ He shook his head, to clear it of the depressing thoughts. _None of that matters at the moment. First things first, let's get her away from that soon to be corpse. _Naruto pushed some of Kyuubi's chakra into his arms and legs for a speed boost. He quickly sped in front of the fleeing nukenin, and landed in front of him.

Takeru skidded to a stop less than two feet from the demon. He knew he wasn't going to get away without a fight. He grabbed Hinata, by the back of her coat, and tossed her to the side. As Naruto's eyes tracked Hinata's short flight, Takeru made a couple of hand signs, hoping to finish his seals before the young demon's attention was back on him. His hope was in vain, as Naruto saw Hinata land safely, if not a bit roughly, on the ground a few feet away. As Takeru was on the final seal, Naruto reached forward and grabbed the man's left wrist. The demon boy gave his hand a sharp twist, causing a spiral fracture through the ulna and radius bones in the other's wrist. As the nukenin gasped, he followed up with a spear hand to the man's gut, which never reached. The chakra built up for a raiton jutsu, having nowhere to go, exploded in the man's hands. The resulting explosion blew the two apart a good distance, slamming Naruto into a tree and causing the jounin to skid across the ground.

Smoke lifted off of Naruto, as he removed himself from the snapped and nearly uprooted tree. He looked around for his prey. Seeing him nearly forty feet away, he noted the man's body was charred, and he was missing both arms. Not even bothering to notice his own missing arm, Naruto growled and began after the jounin again.

Takeru, using the last of his energy and with great difficulty, sat up. What he saw terrified him beyond words. The boy was charging him on all fours again, supported on an arm that appeared to be formed of nothing but red chakra. Within the chakra he saw bone and muscle begin forming at an alarming rate. He was completely helpless as the demon child was upon him. The youth used his still regenerating arm, encompassed in red chakra, and sliced clear through the blond's throat.

Hinata looked on in horror at what played out before her. She was frozen in place by the brutal display and overwhelming killing intent. She knew that she was next upon seeing her captor's head go flying. She felt her heart stop, as the boy turned his glowing glare towards her. She wanted to flee. She knew she had to get away, or the demon would kill her. She wanted too, but she was still bound; too horrified to even attempt to escape the ropes. Pale lavender eyes locked with his glowing eyes of crimson. She felt panic well up as the youth started walking towards her.

The glow faded from the, still red, eyes, and Hinata felt the effects of the killing intent fade. For the first time she was able to clearly see the boy's face. Though many of his features were different, many were still the same. He leaned down to remove her gag and ropes.

He looked into her eyes, and said, ''I promised, I would always protect you.''

"N-Naruto-k-kun?" She asked softly, not entirely sure she believed what she saw before her. Then she looked the boy up and down, finally noticing the utter lack of clothing. She blushed more brightly than she had previously in her life at the sight of her crush in the nude. The effects of everything that had happened finally caught up to her. The stress of being kidnapped and her fateful reunion with her Naruto-kun overwhelmed her senses. Her head suddenly felt too light, and her eyes started to flutter. Darkness quickly encroached her vision.

Naruto was barely able to grab Hinata, before her head hit the forest floor. Quickly becoming concerned about his mate's well being, he gave her a quick once over to make sure she wasn't injured. Once he was finished with the examination and was content when he found no signs that she had been hurt; other than some slight chafing where the ropes had rubbed her skin. He was, however, quite agitated at the scent of the other males coming from her. The boy lifted her and started back towards his den.

The two arrived at his cave a short time later. Naruto, using his claws, sliced away her offensive clothing, that smelled of the other men, and placed her nude form in the soft bed of furs. With her resting peacefully, the youth left and rushed to where he left the corpse. He wanted to make sure that it was removed before it attracted any unwanted attention.

With the dead body looted and disposed of, he returned to his lair. Arriving outside the entrance he peered in to see the sleeping form of the girl still in his bed. Reassured, Naruto followed the edge of the mountain to a small waterfall, which he used to clean the blood and gore off of himself.

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Hinata woke up. She felt warm and wrapped in something soft. _Not again. _She thought sadly. _Not another dream. Why do they haunt me? Why can't I see him again?_ She refused to open her eyes in hopes to drift back off to sleep and dream again. Even if it was a nightmare at least she was with him. Then she noticed as more of her drowsiness faded. The warm, soft feeling wasn't from her silk gown or her blankets. They felt fuzzy, almost like fur. The girl only had time to become aware of the fur, only to have her attention caught by movement. She felt warm flesh and toned muscles pressing up against her back.

The young Hyuuga remembered the kidnapping. She quickly began to grow frightened. Making sure to maintain her composure, she quietly and carefully removed herself from the bedding, trying to ensure she didn't awake the person with her. Having successfully crawled out and exposing herself to the night air, she became aware of the fact that she was completely devoid of clothing.

Knowing she wouldn't last out in the cold without any clothing, she began running her hands through a set of seals. Completing them she whispered, "Byakugan!" With her bloodline limit now active the girl began searching the cave for her clothing. Her scan brought her gaze towards the bed she had escaped from. When her search brought her to the head of the bedding, her eyes locked with the confused look of the lairs other occupant. Her fear began to intensify. Then she recognized the other occupant.

"N-N-Naruto-k-kun? I-is that r-really you?" Hinata stuttered out hopefully. The boy, who was now supporting himself on an elbow, nodded at her, confirming what she had hoped. Hinata, in an ecstatic state, forgot about her lack of clothing, and ran up to the boy; giving him a tight hug. After a moment she noticed the sensation of her bare chest pressing against his. The female eep'ed at the realization that she was naked and hugging the crush of her life. She quickly grabbed the fur that Naruto was using as a blanket to use it to cover herself up until she found her clothing. What she saw was the still nude form of the boy laying on a pile of furs that she had, up until a matter of minutes before, shared with him.

"I-I-I... W-w-w-we... D-did w-w-we...," She stuttered, her mind awash with fantasies, until a trickle of blood fell from her nose, her eyes rolled back into her head, and she fainted again.

Hearing Kyuubi's dark laughter, Naruto's confused look increased and was mixed with concern at seeing the Hyuuga pass out again. He went over to her and gave her another thorough examination to ensure she really didn't have any injuries. This task was made easier by her utter lack of clothing. Still unable to find any wounds on her, aside from a slight nosebleed, he shrugged and carried her back to the furs with him, grabbing the one she started to take and using it to cover them up with.

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Hinata awoke to the sun poring in through the caves entrance. Seeing the unfamiliar surroundings quickly brought back memories of the previous night. Blushing fiercely, she lifted the makeshift blanket and verified her nude state. After noting that she was alone in the cave she searched for her clothes, and other than her jacket, came up empty handed. She used one of the furs on the bed as a makeshift skirt. As she was putting her jacket on she heard a voice come from behind her.

"Good. You're awake. I brought us some food," the males voice said. Hinata turned and saw, the still nude, Naruto coming in the caves entrance. Making sure that she didn't look at anything other than the boy's face, the girl quickly turned away feeling her cheeks burn bright crimson.

"N-Naruto-k-kun, w-why a-aren't you w-wearing any c-clothes?" She inquired, embarrassed, without daring to look at the feral child.

"Why would I? They only get in the way," was the reply.

"Aren't you cold?" The girl asked trying to give weight to her argument.

"Not really," Naruto replied.

Hinata prepared to make a comment about it being indecent when she remembered the implications of when a male and female slept in the nude together. "N-Naruto-k-kun, l-last n-night. D-did w-we?" She stuttered, her blush growing more fierce.

"Did we what?" He asked with a hint of confusion in his voice.

"Y-you know. T-that," she offered.

"That what?" Naruto replied more confused and with just a hint of annoyance in his voice.

By this point Hinata was rubbing her index fingers together. "D-d-did w-w-we h-have s-s-s-sex?" Her blush spread to cover her head and run down her neck.

"Sex?" the boy wondered as he tilted his head in confusion, the annoyance now gone.

"Never mind," the female responded. _If he doesn't know what I'm talking about then I'm sure it didn't happen._ "Why were we sleeping together without clothes? You seem to not wear clothes, but why wasn't I in mine?" She inquired.

"Your clothes reeked of other males. So I removed them, and began placing my scent on you," he replied.

"Your scent? Why would you need to have your scent on me?" She asked, unsure of what he was talking about.

"To mark you as my mate," He responded nonchalantly.

"Your mate?" The Hyuuga exclaimed, wide eyed, quickly turning to face the boy, the torrent of emotions quickly causing her to forget he was undressed. When she realized what she did, her gaze shifted down to a certain part of the males anatomy before she eep'ed and turned away again. Having seen what she saw, she felt the beginning of a nose bleed, no longer able to tell where her blush ended.

Her train of thought quickly returned to where it was earlier with that incident. "You need to wear some clothes," she commented in an embarrassed manner.

"Why?" was the only reply.

"You just need to," she said back.

"No thanks," he stated unconcerned.

"Please?" She asked in a soft, pleading voice.

"How will I put my scent on you if I do?" the boy inquired.

The argument continued this way for the next few minutes until Hinata had an idea. "I'll make a deal with you," she looked down at her index fingers as she rubbed them together, "If you wear clothes during the day, I-I w-won't w-w-wear any at n-night."

"That would be an agreeable idea," Naruto stated in an offhand manner. "Only one problem. I don't have any clothes."

Hinata, who found herself looking at the pile of furs they used as bedding, had another idea. "I know, I'll make you some clothes. I have a needle and thread in my field kit," she said.

"Yeah, fine, whatever," the boy grumbled, tired of the clothing discussion.

Hinata grabbed a bear fur and threw it to Naruto. "You can wrap yourself in that until I get your clothes done," she said. The red haired boy was grumbling, looking down at the fish in his hands, when a large piece of brown fur fell on his head. His grumbling intensified as he shook off the pelt, it was finally loud enough for Hinata to hear. She turned to see that Naruto was holding both fish with his mouth as he wrapped the bear pelt around himself, obviously agitated. "N-Naruto-kun, I-I'm s-sorry," she pleaded, fear evident in her voice as she remembered what he had done the previous day.

"It's fine," he mumbled reassuring the girl, as he made sure not to drop the fish, while looking down and making sure the wrapped pelt wouldn't fall. When he was content with his work, he took the fish from his mouth and tossed one to the girl. "Catch!" Hinata caught the fish reflexively.

A smile spread across her face. "I know, I'll use these to make us dinner," she stated happily. "Um... Where do I cook these? Where's the fire pit?" She inquired as she searched around the cave.

"What fire pit?" He inquired.

"What do you mean? We can't eat these raw," the girl reasoned.

Naruto smirked. "Why not? Don't you like sushi?" He asked sarcastically.

Hinata looked at the fish she was holding. "We have to cook these to get rid of the bacteria."

"They're fine," came the muffled reply. Hinata looked up as Naruto ripped another chunk of the fish off and began chewing it. She felt her stomach turn and was feeling a little nauseous. They had learned about eating raw animals, as a survival technique, in the academy. It was even rumored that they had to so in survival exercises their final year, but hearing about it and actually seeing it were two totally different things.

The girl turned her face away to avoid seeing the feral boy tearing into the fish as if it were a piece of fruit. "Naruto-kun, we really need to cook these. They'll taste a lot better," she continued in an attempt to convince her crush.

"Taste fine to me," he replied as he continued devouring his catch.

"If I eat it like this I'll get sick," she stated sadly, grasping at straws in an attempt to convince him.

"Get the thing ready. I'll go get some wood," he said to Hinata's surprise. _I can't let her get sick. Damn. I guess I'll just have to deal with anything it attracts._ Naruto thought, his animalistic instincts taking dominance to protect his mate.

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Naruto returned a while later with a decent collection of wood for a fire. When he entered the cave he noticed a pot filled with snow and the cleaned fish sitting on top. Looking into the side chamber he saw Hinata sitting on their bed sewing. Dropping the wood to the side, he walked into their bed chamber.

"Wood's in there," he said, catching the girls attention.

"Oh, Naruto-kun, welcome back," Hinata offered, looking up from her sewing. "I'll start on dinner. I found some pots, cooking utensils, and spices in the other chamber. I figured I'd make us some stew." She smiled at Naruto as she sat her work to the side. Getting up, she went to the main chamber to begin preparation of their meal. _I can't believe this isn't a dream! I'm really here with Naruto-kun. I'll be sure to make a special meal for him._ She smiled inwardly as she took out the flint and steel from her field kit and sparked it on some kindling, starting a fire.

Naruto, leaving Hinata to her work, went to the back chamber and dug out his newest scroll with the intention of reading it again. Once he found it he returned to the main chamber and unrolled it, looking over it intently as the smell of Hinata's cooking began filling the cave. The girl, curious as to what her friend was doing, looked up from the pot she was stirring and saw him reading a scroll she thought she recognized.

"Um... Isn't that Konoha's Forbidden Scroll of Seals?" She inquired.

"Don't know," he replied without looking up. Hinata moved closer to get a better look.

"That is the forbidden scroll," the surprise was evident in her voice. ''Where do you get it?''

"I found it," he replied in the same distracted voice, still not looking up.

"Found it? Where?" She asked still eying the scroll.

"On a corpse," he was still showing that he was paying little attention as he read.

Hinata gave up getting any real answers on how he came into possession of the scroll, and returned to her cooking. As she stirred the pot, she asked, "How many jutsu have you learned from it?"

Naruto finally gave her his full attention as he looked up from the scroll. "How many jutsu have I learned?" He returned the question.

The girl nodded, "How many?"

"None. I don't know how to use jutsu," the male returned in a slightly somber tone. Hinata paused in her stirring to look at the boy.

"You don't? Well, we'll just have to remedy that," she said, giving Naruto a cute, reassuring smile. _Of course he doesn't. _She chided herself. _He hasn't been to the academy, and he seems to have been living in the wild all this time. _"I'll start teaching you after we eat." Naruto looked at her with a hopeful smile. When he remembered all of those scrolls he had memorized, his smile only broadened.

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After they ate, Hinata spent the rest of the evening teaching Naruto the different seals used for jutsu along with henge to give him something to practice with. He was outside of the cave practicing, and she was sitting next to the fire, enjoying the warmth, as she thought on the compromise she reached with her crush about the clothing situation. She was embarrassed and nervous about the idea, despite the fact that they had done so the previous night, not that she was entirely aware of it at the time. She sat the gray wolf pelt she was sewing to the side, as her train of thought became more and more distracting, and began to stare into the small fire. She snapped out of her daze sometime later to realize she was no longer alone.

"Naruto-kun, what happened to you? What happened that day?" Hinata inquired in a somber tone without breaking her gaze from the hypnotic dance of the flames. This question caused the boys look of elation, at learning to use what he'd read about, to fade. His facial expression grew distant as he focused on that day over five years ago.

"After I left the alley to draw them away, a member of the mob that had been chasing us used an attack that went straight through my stomach," he began. Hinata remembering that scene, all too well, grew a little depressed, and missed what was said next. Then her attention returned to the demon boy.

"When I awoke, I was in a sewer ankle deep in blood. A badly damaged cage was in front of me. On the cage was a damaged ofuda scroll that read 'seal' with only darkness beyond it. I approached the seal to see red eyes staring at me, and barely avoided large claws that tried to rip me apart. I was staring at the dreaded Kyuubi no Kitsune," he continued.

"Kyuubi no Kitsune? But the Yondaime Hokage killed him. He died doing so," she interrupted in a shocked voice.

"He may have died, but it wasn't killing Kyuubi. He died sealing the demon in me, and that attack somehow damaged the seal causing me to change," he responded. She listened in a mix of shock and horror as he related what had happened to him the years since he had fled the village, the training under Kyuubi, the battles, and general hardships. "And that's when I found you," He concluded. Having finished his story, he stood and left the cave to practice his jutsu and distract himself from the memories, and to give Hinata the opportunity to absorb what she had just heard.

The fire, long since forgotten, had become little more than a pile of glowing embers. The girl, unsure as to what to think or do, sat there overwhelmed with what she had just learned. The crush of her life had the dreaded Kyuubi no Kitsune sealed in him, and the seal that imprisoned it was damaged, allowing the Kyuubi to force his chakra through Naruto's body. The demonic chakra altered him in such a way as to turn him at least partly into a demon._ Poor Naruto-kun. How hard this must have been for him. To suffer this alone. Well he isn't alone anymore, and I promise I won't let him handle this by himself anymore._

Naruto heard his friend leave the cave. He kept his back to the entrance and continued going through the seals for henge. He didn't even respond to the footsteps coming up to him. He did, however, freeze mid hand seal when the girl wrapped her arms around him, from behind, in a hug.

"I'm sorry, Naruto-kun," Hinata said in a comforting manner.

"For what?" Naruto responded, dropping his arms to his side.

"For everything that happened to you. It had to be rough," the girl replied, resting her head on his shoulder. Naruto didn't respond aloud to the last statement, he reached up and grasped her hands with one of his, and sat there taking in her scent as she held him. After a couple of silent minutes, Hinata spoke up again. "Come on, Naruto-kun. Let's get some rest." She entered the cave, removed her makeshift skirt and jacket, and climbed into bed. Shortly after she felt Naruto climb into the bed with her and pressed up against her back. She felt him bury his face in her hair, and inhale deeply. The girl felt a fierce blush and wiped away a small trickle of blood from her nose. _This is going to be a long night,_ she thought to herself, _but it'll be worth it. As long as I'm with Naruto-kun._ She smiled contently and pulled the fur blanket more tightly around her, as she snuggled up closer to Naruto. Before she realized it she was asleep.

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Sarutobi took a long pull from his pipe, a look of concern on his face. Before his desk stood a member of the Hyuuga branch family and a jounin. A couple of minutes prior the jounin gate guard arrived after the Sandaime sent for him upon hearing the news of the Hyuuga Heiresses disappearance. "And you say she walked through the gate alone with a distracted look on her face?" The old man asked the dark haired jounin.

"Yes, Hokage-sama," the guard responded.

"And you didn't see her or anything happen to her after that?" Sarutobi continued, making sure he had the details of the jounin's story.

"No, Hokage-sama," he replied.

The old man turned to the Hyuuga branch member, "There has been no word from her and no one has seen her, correct?"

The branch member shook his head as he voiced, "No, Hokage-sama."

"I see," Sarutobi said, mostly to himself, before turning back to the jounin and taking another pull from his pipe. "Send for Hana Inuzuka and Kurenai Yuuhi. You are dismissed." The dark haired guard nodded and left. Looking at the Hyuuga again, Sarutobi gestured towards a chair. "Have a seat. It may be a bit before they arrive." The branch member, doing as the Hokage suggested, took a seat. The two sat in silence as they waited, the old man smoking his pipe.

After ten minutes of waiting, the first of the jounin Sarutobi sent for arrived. The dark haired, crimson eyed kunoichi entered his office. "You wished to see me, Hokage-sama?" She inquired.

"Yes, Kurenai, but we're still waiting for Hana to arrive before I explain. Please, have a seat," the old man gestured at a chair next to the Hyuuga. Kurenai, upon seeing the branch member sitting there and knowing they were waiting for an Inuzuka, began growing very concerned about her young friend.

Another five minutes passed before a second female entered the office. She wore dark gray pants, a dark shirt, and a green jounin vest. Her long, dark brown hair was pulled back into a pony tail, she had red triangles on both cheeks, and a flower tattooed on her upper arm. "Greetings, Hokage-sama," she said with a bow.

"Hello, Hana," he returned, "Now that you're all here I'll explain the situation," the other two occupants of the room stood and approached the desk. "It's been brought to my attention that two days ago Hinata Hyuuga, heiress of the Hyuuga clan, entered the woods, outside the North Gate, and has yet to return. So far no signs of what happened to her has been found. The three of you are to search for her. Report any findings to me. This is a Rank B mission as of this time," Kurenai paled visibly as her fears were confirmed. The three, having received their orders, left the Hokage's office to prepare for their mission.

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Naruto was having difficulty sleeping. Between his no longer sleeping alone, as he had done for his entire life, and what Kyuubi had told him the previous day about his instincts, his mind was too occupied for rest to claim him. Having decided he wanted some fresh air, he climbed out of the makeshift bed, making sure not to disturbed Hinata, and left the cave. Once outside he climbed the rock formation. Upon finding, a spot a short distance up, that was devoid of snow, he decided to lay down and look up at the clear, star filled night sky.

**"It's time for us to talk, brat. Whether or not you've been aware of it, you have already been displaying your demon instincts. You've protected your den and your territory from other humans, and you didn't run them off. You killed them. You wanted to prove you were superior and maintain your alpha status. You even protected your mate with extreme prejudice which, as loathing as I am to admit it, made me proud. The look of pain and shock on his face, it had been too long since I had seen such a sight. Then you followed that up with rubbing your scent on her, marking her as your mate. It's only a matter of time before your instincts drive you to mate with her,"** Kyuubi said in the boy's head, enjoying the discomfort caused by the last couple of sentences.

_What if she doesn't want to?_ He asked his captive mentally.

**"She's your mate. Thus it is her place to mate with you,"** the fox responded.

_What if she has another mate in the village? I have been gone a long time._ He continued his mental line of questioning.

**"Then prove your status as Alpha and take her,"** the demon returned.

_What if..._

**"Enough 'what ifs!' Your giving me a headache! Damn brat,"** Kyuubi snapped.

Naruto's mental conversation with his tenant was interrupted when he heard Hinata scream from inside his den. He jumped from the landing he was on and quickly made his way into the cave. Inside he saw Hinata panting and covered in a layer of sweat, a look of terror in her eyes. The girl, realizing she was no longer alone, turned towards the cave entrance to see the demon boy's silhouette. Seeing this her eyes widened as she screamed again. She tried scooting back only to press her back against the wall.

Naruto sniffed the air, only to find the normal smells in the cave. Confused and concerned, he began walking towards Hinata. "Are you okay, Hinata-chan? What happened?" He asked approaching the girl. When he reached the trembling female he sat on his knees in front of her. The girl only looked at him in wide eyed horror. "Hinata-chan?" Naruto asked staring into the frightened Hyuuga's eyes. The boy reached out to the girl only to have her flinch away.

"Please don't kill me," the weak female voice pleaded before she broke out into tears.

"Hinata-chan?" It shocked him to find out she'd even think he'd hurt her. Not knowing what else to do, he grabbed her and pulled her to him in a tight hug. "I won't hurt you. I promised I'd protect you, and I intend to keep that promise," he whispered in her ear, reassuring her. The embrace shocked her out of her tears, and the words broke her out of her shock. Taking note of her surroundings for the first time since she awoke she saw she was still in the cave. Realization hit her and she wrapped her arms around Naruto as she began sobbing.

"I-it was h-horrible, N-Naruto-k-kun. I-I-I h-had a n-nightm-mare. I-I-I dreamt you w-were tr-trying to k-kill me," she choked out between sobs.

Naruto pulled away a bit and lifted her face with his hand under her chin. He took note of her features, her disheveled hair, her tear streaked cheeks, and then he met her blood shot eyes with his. Their gaze locked, he spoke, "I'd never hurt you, Hinata-chan. I promise I won't let anything hurt you or take you away from me." His words caused her heart to skip a beat, and he pulled her back into a tight hug. Once Hinata had calmed down Naruto offered, "Come on, Hinata-chan, let's get some rest."

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The jounin team was trudging through ankle deep snow down a path through the woods. Hana and her dogs, the Haimaru Sankyodai, were in the lead, following the girl's scent. Kurenai was in the center of the formation, and the Hyuuga branch member was in the rear with his byakugan active. They had been following the trail for three hours. Kurenai looked up, through a break in the trees, and noted the gray, cloud filled skies. _It looks like quite a storm is coming. I hope we find her soon._ "See anything, Retsu-san?" She asked the Hyuuga behind her.

"Nothing yet, Kurenai-san," he returned, still scanning the area with his bloodline limit.

Hours had gone by without any sign of Hyuuga heiress. Evening was setting in, and the snow had began falling more and more rapidly. Their formation stopped when one of Hana's dogs began growling while sniffing the air. After a moment it turned and began barking to the Inuzuka female. Once it was done, the young woman turned back to the other jounin . "He says that there's the overpowering scent of a demon in the air. It's mixing with the other scents, nearly drowning them out. We need to hurry!" She relayed the information and they all broke into a run.

Minutes later, Retsu spoke up, "There are signs of a battle." They arrived at the battle site and began searching for signs of Hinata. All they were able to find was a charred and mutilated corpse and metal fragments. Retsu scanning around with his byakugan noticed another battle site a few minutes run from the current spot, ''I see another battle site ahead.''

The storm picked up as they were rushing to the area ahead of them. A small hole in the ground, that was quickly filling with snow, a splintered and uprooted tree, and a patch of red snow, with a small glint of metal, was all they saw upon arriving there. Deciding that time was not on their side, they each went to a separate area of the site. Kurenai was examining the hole. _Well the ground looks charred, but not enough to be a Katon technique. Maybe a Raiton technique? Damn we should have brought Anko. She is a skilled Battle Reconstructionist. She could probably tell us every step that happened here._ Getting up she headed over to the blood soaked snow where Hana was, ''Please tell me that's not Hinata's blood.''

Hana Inuzuka looked at her Haimaru Sankyodai questioningly. After a couple growls, she looked at Kurenai, ''No, they say that the blood here smells heavily of the male kidnappers scent. The amount of blood on the ground here would signify a mortal wound. The man, a Kumo nukenin judging by this hitai-ate I found, died here, and then was carried off somewhere.''

Kurenai sighed in relief, then frowned, ''Carried off, why? What would the purpose be, I wonder?'' Shaking her head clear of that mystery, she asked, ''If both of her kidnappers were killed, then where is Hinata? Do you think the demon killed her as well?''

Hana was about to tell her, that the dogs hadn't picked up the scent of Hinata's blood, when Retsu called out to them. Rushing to the shattered tree, they saw him holding on to something around two feet long. At first, Kurenai thought it was a snake, but as they neared him, she realized it was an arm. Hana's dogs started barking, causing Hana to stop short, and look at them incredulously, ''Are you positive?'' Hearing a short bark in reply, she nodded. ''That's the demon's arm.'' Retsu's pale eyes widened, and he quickly dropped the arm, as if burned by it. Hana smirked at his obvious fear, while Kurenai quickly grabbed some spare cloth to wrap it up in.

When their search turned up nothing else, Hana spoke up, "We need to head back. The storms only going to get worse."

Kurenai, refusing to give up, responded, "We can't just give up! Can't we just follow the demon's scent? We can't abandon her!"

Hana grew annoyed with the woman's outburst. "It's not like I want to leave her. I'd like nothing more than to find her alive, and take her back to the village. However, you have to look at the facts. There's the scent of a demon in the air, and that badly burned and mutilated corpse. Even in the off chance that neither the demon nor the nukenin, who kidnapped her, has done anything to her, the snow has covered their scent. We don't even know where to go from here. There's nothing we can do. If we stay here any longer we risk getting caught in the blizzard," she reasoned. Kurenai was unable to argue with that logic, as much as she hated to admit it, she lowered her head in defeat. After having successfully convinced Kurenai that they had to head back, Hana pocketed the scratched Kumo hitai-ate, and with that in hand the three turned and started going back the way they came.

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It was late afternoon and a light snow was falling. Naruto was hunting for the pair's dinner while Hinata sat on a rock next to the river, listening to the soothing sound of the current. She was thinking back to what Naruto had told her earlier that day about his instincts. It was a lot to take in. Some of it was confusing, some of it was frighting, and some of it was embarrassing.

Her mind was snapped back to the present when she heard growling coming from behind her. She turned to notice that she had been surrounded by a pack of wolves, and, by the way they looked, she could tell they were hungry and had found their next meal. The girl stood and entered her jyuuken stance, in preparation to defend herself as one of the beasts stepped forward. She began the seals to activate her bloodline only to have to dodge to the side to avoid the first wolves lunge. No sooner had she dodged the first one than she saw the second one charging towards her. The Hyuuga barely had time to dodge the second attack. Her reflexes took over; allowing her to successfully evade the lunging beast, escaping without any injuries. As the animal was flying by she slammed a chakra imbued palm into it's side causing it to emit a loud yelp. She spun back around towards the rest of the pack just in time to see a wolf too close to dodge. Grabbing it and using it's momentum she fell backwards flinging the surprised beast into the river.

The wolves, seeing their opportunity, charged the girl as she was preparing to flip back to her feet. One jumped and landed on her chest, causing her to fall back to the ground. The beast's face was right next to her's growling, it's fangs bared. A bit of saliva dripped from the animals maw onto her cheek. It turned it's head, opened it's mouth, and lunged for her throat. Hinata closed her eyes, fully expecting to die. The next thing she heard was a loud yelp as the weight was removed from her chest. She opened her eyes to see Naruto crouched in front of her. He was wearing the bear pelt, blood was covering, and dripping from, his claw, and his blond tipped red hair danced in the breeze, looking like a manifestation of living flame.

The boy let out a low growl and dropped to all fours as a red aura encompassed him, eying each of the animals in turn. Hinata got up and saw that between Naruto and the wolf pack was a single wolf, with it's side ripped open, laying in a patch of red snow. The beasts stepped back, while growling at the demon child, going on the defensive. One began barking at him. The boy figured it was the leader, and raced towards it, any snow that came in contact with his blazing aura instantly evaporated into steam. The gray wolf backed away from the charging youth, and jumped to the side to avoid his lunge. It then returned the lunge, intent on sinking it's fangs into the boy's side, only to get a back fist to the side of the head. The moment it was dazed was all the time Naruto needed. Before the animal had the chance to recover he was on it, he sank his fangs into the animals throat, and using his hands to hold it down, ripped it's throat out. Blood began pooling around the, quickly cooling, corpse.

The youth, blood covering and dripping from his chin, turned to the rest of the pack which, after seeing their leader die, began fleeing. Refusing to let anything that threatened his mate get away, he gave chase and killed each in turn. Until the last one was dead. He wiped the blood away from his mouth and claws as he returned to the river. When he arrived he saw Hinata sitting on a rock with a worried expression on her face. She looked up as he approached, and, upon seeing him, ran up to him and threw her arms around him.

"Are you okay, Hinata-chan?" Naruto asked his mate.

"I'm fine, Naruto-kun. How about you? Are you hurt?" She returned.

"I'm okay, it'll take more than a pack of mutts to take me down," he reassured her.

"Thank you, Naruto-kun," she said as she snuggled closer.

Naruto looked at the gray sky over the river and felt the wind pick up. "We need to return to the cave. This storm's only going to get worse,'' Naruto glanced at the dead wolves, ''At least we have plenty of food to last us for a while."

Hinata nodded against his bare chest, not wanting to break the embrace.

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The jounin team had arrived back at the village around dawn. By this time the wind was blowing quite fiercely and the snow fall picked up, obscuring vision more than ten feet in front of them. They had their fur lined cloaks, which they brought just for this reason, wrapped tightly around themselves to keep them warm. Knowing the Hokage was going to be at his tower before long, the three made their way there to inform the old man of their findings.

After arriving at the tower, they didn't have to wait long. Upon entering the tower and seeing the jounin waiting, he invited them into his office for the debriefing. After Sarutobi sat at his desk, he gestured to the jounin to start. Hana, who was standing in the center with Kurenai to her left and Retsu to her right, stepped forward and began.

"We traveled into the woods, following the trail of Hinata Hyuuga and two males, which we believe to be Kumo nukenin, for roughly twelve hours. Close to the twelve hour mark one of my Haimaru Sankyodai picked up the scent of a demon. Near to where we first noticed the scent of the demon was the signs of a battle. We found signs of an explosion, with a badly charred and mutilated corpse. We also found metal fragments of varying sizes. From that location Retsu was able to see another battle site further on. When we got there, there was a broken tree, which seems to have collapsed from a heavy impact, as well as a hole in the ground about 2 foot deep, and about 3 feet in diameter, about 40 feet away from the hole, and opposite of the tree, was a giant patch of blood-stained snow. Half buried there we found a kumo nukenin hitai-ate. Sir, I think you should know, we recovered an arm from by the tree, that is from the demon,'' she nodded to Kurenai who pulled the wrapped up arm from her pack and laid it on his desk, ''We were forced to give up the search when the weather worsened and the snow covered up the scent trail." Hana, her report done, took out the scratched Kumo hitai-ate and placed it on the Hokage's desk.

Sarutobi listened intently to every detail as he took out his pipe and loaded it. As the report was finished he lit his pipe and took a long pull from it. "The arm of a demon? Was there any signs of Hinata Hyuuga?" He inquired as he surveyed the jounin. He noted Retsu wore no expression on his face, Hana wore the expression of one in front of an official, and Kurenai looked visibly distraught.

"No, Hokage-sama," the Inuzuka woman responded.

"Was there anything note worthy on the man's corpse?" The Sandaime inquired, trying to make sure everything is covered.

"Nothing that looked to have survived the explosion, sir," the jounin spokesman replied.

"And these metal fragments you spoke of. Tell me about them," he pressed.

"They were fragments of varying shapes and sizes. The pieces appeared to have been charred, but we were unable to to make out any detail on what they might have originally been," the woman offered.

"Did you bring any of these fragments?" The old man asked after taking another pull from his pipe. Before the Inuzuka could respond, Retsu stepped forward pulling some fragments out of his kunai pouch, and placed them on the desk before stepping back. Sarutobi, holding his pipe in one hand, grabbed a larger piece of the metal fragments with his other, and began examining it closely. After checking it thoroughly, he sat it back on his desk. "It appears to be a metal fragment from a kunai. I'll have someone perform some analysis jutsu on it, and the arm later," he said, "Unless there's anything else to inform me of, you are dismissed. Kurenai, I would like you to stay." The three jounin nodded, and the Inuzuka and Hyuuga left the office, leaving Sarutobi and Kurenai alone.

"Have a seat, Kurenai," he told the jounin. After she took a seat he continued, "You're quite close to the Hyuuga heiress, are you not?"

"Well I don't see her much, but I worry about her. Ever since her mother died she hasn't really had a good family life. Everyone knows how Hiashi is to her. I wonder if he even realizes she's missing at this moment," she responded.

"So you view her more like a sister then?" He inquired, continuing his line of questioning. Kurenai gained a contemplative look at this question. Sarutobi, wanting to leave her to sort matters out, resumed smoking his pipe. After a minute the realization dawned on the crimson eyed woman that she did, in fact, view Hinata as a younger sister.

"Yes, Hokage-sama. I see her like a little sister," she replied.

_Good, that girl could use a positive influence like that._ The elderly Hokage thought to himself. Out loud he said, "I'm glad to hear that, Kurenai. I know this time has to be rough on you. I assure you when the storm dies, we'll send more search parties to locate her."

Kurenai smiled a small smile at this bit of comfort and bowed to the elderly man. "Thank you, Hokage-sama."

"There is no need to thank me. It's my job to care for everyone in this village. One thing I would like you to do, though. I would like you to promise me that when we find Hinata you'll show the girl that you care about her," he said looking at the young woman.

Her smile widened at this. "Of course, Hokage-sama," she returned.

"Good, then you're free to go. It'd be best to get home before this storm worsens," he said sagely. The woman nodded and started to leave. Before she got to the door, she paused and turned.

''Hokage-sama, if I may?'' The Sandaime Hokage nodded at her to continue, ''I wish to volunteer to be on the rescue missions, that is, if you don't mind?'' He smiled slightly at her, and nodded to let her know he understood and agreed. Kurenai turned and left, closing the doors behind her. The old man, once again alone in his office, reloaded his pipe and turned to look out the window at the storm. His thoughts drifted back to the boy he viewed as a grandson who disappeared years ago. Gazing at the faces of the Hokages on the Hokage Monument, Yondaime's face in particular, a small, though sad, smile crept up to his lips. A single tear fell from his eyes as he remembered the hyper active blond.

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A week had passed since the blizzard had stopped. Three feet of snow covered the ground. Hinata, having finished Naruto's clothes, made herself a warmer garment out of the wolf pelts. Naruto, having successfully learned kawarimi and henge, began working on other jutsu. He picked most of them up quickly, but none more so than genjutsu techniques. Kyuubi had told him, it was most likely because genjutsu affect the mind, and his kitsune powers do the same. Hinata wanted to return to Konoha, but she knew, even with her new clothes, she would freeze to death long before reaching it. She was sitting next to the fire, a small pile of firewood a short distance away so she could keep it from dying. To one side of the cave was a larger pile of wood that had been set there to allow to dry. Food had not been an issue due to the wolf corpses, which were preserved in the snow, and the dried rations they found in the storage area in the back. Naruto was sitting across from her working on the seals for a new genjutsu. She looked across the fire at her friend. He was wearing a gray shirt made from a wolf's pelt, the fur was on the outside, and dark brown pants which had the fur on the inside. She herself wore a gray fur shirt and gray fur pants.

"Naruto-kun," she said getting the boys attention. When their eyes met she flinched slightly, still unused to seeing vermilion slitted eyes instead of the sapphire orbs she remembered from her youth. "When the snow melts I'm going to have to return to Konoha, and I want you to return with me," she continued.

Naruto completely forgot about working on the jutsu at this loathsome turn of events. "I can't return to that place. You remember how people treated me, and what happened. Why don't you stay here with me instead?" He reasoned.

"I'm sorry, Naruto-kun. I can't live like this. I want to finish the academy and become a ninja. When the snow melts they'll probably send a search party for me. Please come with me. We can go to the academy together," she pleaded.

_Dammit, I have to choose between my den and lifestyle, and my mate._ Grumbling he stood up. "I have to think," he said as he turned and walked into their 'bedroom' leaving a depressed Hinata behind. She sat there looking at the flames, mentally berating herself for putting Naruto in that situation, but she knew she wouldn't last living like this.

An hour went by and the fire was dying down. Hinata, who was beginning to succumb to exhaustion, made her way to their sleeping chamber. Removing her clothes and quickly climbing under the covers, to escape the cold, she felt the fur of Naruto's shirt, and realized that he was still dressed. This compounded her depression as she turned away and curled up, trying to force herself to sleep. She was up half the night depressed at the situation and hoping he'd take her up on her offer and return to the village with her.

It was about midmorning when Hinata woke up. The girl noticed she was alone in the bed, and looked around the cave, failing to find her crush. She quickly grabbed her clothes and got dressed under the blanket to avoid exposing her naked flesh to the cold air. Once dressed, she went into the main chamber of the cave and found Naruto poking a fresh fire with a stick. "Naruto-kun?" She asked in an attempt to catch the boy's attention.

Without even turning to look at her, he said in a voice that made it clear he wasn't happy about the idea, "I'll return with you." This caught the girl off guard. She stared at the feral child's back.

"W-what?" She stuttered out.

He turned and looked over his shoulder at the girl. "I'll return to Konoha with you," he confirmed. Hinata smiled as her fear and depression bled away.

She ran up to him and hugged him from behind. "This makes me so happy, Naruto-kun. I couldn't stand the thought of losing you again," she said in a relieved tone.

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Three weeks had passed since the conversation on returning to Konoha. The snow had melted enough to allow for the pair of youths to travel without the risk of Hinata freezing. The pair were packing Naruto's belongings in one of the burlap sacks when the boy looked up, catching Hinata's eyes with his.

"Hinata-chan, there's something I've been meaning to ask you," he said nervously.

"Yes, Naruto-kun?" She asked, curious as to where this conversation was going.

Naruto looked down as he nervously asked, "I was wondering, will you be my mate?"

"Aren't I already your mate?" She asked confused.

"I'd like your consent," he said without looking up.

**"Real intelligent, brat,'' **Kyuubi sarcastically stated.** ''Give her an out. Damn you and your human honor," **the voice in the back of his head chided him.

"Of course, Naruto-kun," she said with a smile. To reassure him of her decision she hugged him. Pulling away she saw Naruto return her smile. The pair of happy youths finished packing the boy's belongings in the sack. Hinata had been surprised to see Naruto had had a considerable sum of money just thrown haphazardly in a pack. Hinata strapped the forbidden scroll to her back and Naruto slung the bag over his shoulder as the two prepared to leave their cave for the last time.

**A/N:**

It took longer for him to heal the shrapnel damage than his amputated arm, due to the fact that the shrapnel would have cauterized the wound, taking an extreme amount of time healing, compared to the simple regeneration of his arm. He helped speed it up by channeling Kyuubi's chakra to the point where it was literally burning his skin away layer by layer, and rapidly forming new layers under it, until he burned away the cauterized section of his wounds.

As usual, I enjoy receiving reviews. Again I'd like to thank my prereader Endymionrose for the kick ass job he does. Enjoy.


	5. Chapter 5

Warning. This chapter contains graphic scenes of a dark nature.

"Talking."

_Thought._

**"Kyuubi talking."**

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A firm blanket of white still covered the ground, being reinforced by a light snowfall. The pair had been traveling for a couple of hours. Naruto was leading Hinata at a leisurely pace. The girl was a couple of steps behind and to his left. She was sporting a slight blush on her cheeks due to the fact that Naruto was holding her hand as he lead her. A small smile graced her lips as she thought of them holding hands, and at the thought of returning with him.

Naruto knew the woods very well and knew where Konoha was, though he tried to avoid it. He came into proximity of it a few times while he was hunting. His emotions were battling between being happy about Hinata consenting to being his mate and being upset about leaving his life behind to return to a village that hated him.

The feral child's internal debate ceased when he caught a scent in the air. Getting a larger intake of air through his nose he could tell it was obviously human, and that there was more than one. He peered back at his companion to notice she had her head tilted down slightly, still distracted and oblivious to anything out of the ordinary. He decided not to alert her, making sure to keep his pace up, he focused inwardly to the source of his kitsune abilities and created an illusion to cover the pair and hide them from any unwanted attention. The knowledge of chakra and it's control he had learned from Hinata allowed him to make the illusion complete enough to completely hide even their chakra signatures. After making sure they were well hidden, Naruto sniffed the air again to get an idea on the heading of the humans, which he could now count out to be three, all female. He noted that it had become decisively stronger, as if it was heading directly towards them. Not wanting to risk an encounter and risk putting his mate in danger, he switched directions figuring he'd take a round about route towards the village.

**"What are you doing, brat! Go after them!"** Kyuubi demanded in the boy's mind.

_I will not put my mate as risk for the amusement of some demon!_ Naruto reasoned. The fox demon only growled in response, unable to argue with that logic.

Hinata was snapped out of her musings as Naruto changed directions and pulled her arm, a little harder than she had expected, to make sure she followed. "Is something wrong, Naruto-kun?" She asked, puzzled.

Naruto turned to look back at the girl he was leading. "Nothing's wrong, Hinata-chan," he offered with a smile. "Why do you ask?"

"It's just, well, when you changed directions you pulled my arm a little hard and it hurt," she said a little sadly causing Naruto to stop. He instinctively released her hand as he turned to look back at her. No longer being distracted by her thoughts and having her hands free, she brought them up to her upper arms and began rubbing them in an attempt to warm up. The demon child took this as a bad sign.

"I'm sorry, Hinata-chan, I didn't mean to hurt you," he said with depression evident in his voice as he lowered his face to look at the ground. He took this opportunity to discretely take in a whiff of the air. He was upset about hurting his mate, but he wasn't going to risk her because he faltered. The scent was steadily growing stronger, verifying his concern.

"It's okay. It just caught me off guard," she said in a reassuring tone. The boy didn't even look up.

"Then why are you rubbing your arms?" He inquired, his depression growing, as he inwardly devised a plan to get them somewhere safe.

"Oh this? I'm cold so I was trying to warm up," she replied. This revelation sparked an idea in the boy's mind. He looked up, relief quickly replacing his depressed expression.

"I know just the place," he said with a smile of someone who just had everything fall into place. He reached down putting one arm behind the girls knees and used the other one to support her back as he lifted her to carry her in the bridal fashion. Carrying her in his arms, he took off running and rapidly started hopping through the trees to a destination he thought would be perfect to hide in and allow her to warm up.

"N-N-Nar-ruto-kunnn, I-I ca-an wa-a-lk," she said with her voice being interrupted from the constant jolts of his leaping run. Although she enjoyed the warmth and proximity with her crush, she was concerned about him hurting himself. He didn't reply, however, as he kept up the rushed pace he had set.

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Dusk was setting in as the pair arrived at a small cave next to a creek. This was a place Naruto was very familiar with. He had spent the first year of his new life in the wild living out of this very cave. Having reached his destination, he set Hinata on her feet. The girl looked around curiously.

"Where are we?" She asked as her gaze continued taking in the area.

"This is my first den. I figured it'd be a good place to set up camp, and to let you warm up," he replied.

"Your first den?" She inquired as she quit looking around and rested her gaze on the feral child's face. He nodded as he put his arm around her and ushered her inside. He had lost the scent of the humans a while before reaching the cave, but he wasn't going to take the chance, and he wanted to let her get warm. She looked around the small cave, taking in every detail of her crushes first home outside of Konoha.

"It isn't much, but it'll do for tonight. We should reach Konoha tomorrow," he said gazing, dispassionately, at his former home. Hinata was so happy that he'd share something so important to him with her, even though she didn't know how little he really cared about the cave. The only reply he got to his statement was a hug. Despite not knowing what it was for, he quickly returned it.

"Let's get some wood and start a fire," she said happily.

''We can't. I have been picking up the scents of humans in the area, and I don't think we should draw attention to ourselves,'' he responded causing her to glance up at his face.

''Humans?'' Hinata asked, ''Isn't that a good thing? It could be a search party out looking for me.'' Hinata's hopeful look quickly deflated when Naruto shook his head in a negative manner.

''It could also be more of those ninja who kidnapped you,'' Naruto hugged her tighter as he continued, ''I am not about to risk your life on a fifty-fifty chance. You are my mate. If you get injured, especially because of a careless risk I took, I...I don't know what I would do.'' Hinata, who had laid her head against his chest, felt her heart pound in her chest at hearing this. As she felt him lean his head down to inhale her scent through her hair, she relaxed, and slowly closed her eyes.

After a few moments, he released her, and took off a bag he had strapped across his back. He opened the large burlap sack, and started rummaging through it. He began pulling out various furs that he had brought with them. When he had them all on the cave floor, he tossed Hinata one of the largest ones. "Wrap yourself in that. I'll prepare a bed for you."

"What about you? Aren't you going to sleep in the bed, too?" She asked, curious about the fact that he used 'you' instead of 'us.'

"No, not tonight, Hinata-chan. I'm going to guard the den in case the humans finds us," he replied as he went about the task of preparing a bed for his mate.

"You don't have to stay up all night. I can stand gua...," she was cut off by a glare that said no arguments. After the demon child returned to preparing the bed, she spoke up again, "Won't you get tired?"

"I'll be fine. The demon blood that runs through my body, can sustain me for a week without sleep, if needed," he replied as he continued his project. The girl gave up, realizing she wouldn't be able to change his mind. A few minutes later, he stood up with his task complete. He turned to his companion, "Why don't you get some rest. I'm sure the furs will keep you warm," he offered, "I'm going to go sit watch at the entrance." Hinata looked down and noticed he had left a few of the larger furs to the side for her to use as blankets. Naruto had already left through the entrance of the cave, leaving the girl alone. _He's going to get cold sitting out there alone. _She thought to herself as she was looking at the furs he had set aside. With a resolute nod, she grabbed one of the furs and made her way out the entrance.

Naruto was sitting on a rock right next to the mouth of the cave. He had expanded his enhanced senses to cover the surrounding area so he would be aware of any risk that came their way. He was aware as Hinata left the cave, though he didn't react. He kept his attention on the area. He allowed himself to become slightly distracted, however, when she walked up next to him and wrapped a fur around him. The boy took a breath in through his nose while she was next to him, thoroughly enjoying her scent.

"I thought you might get cold," she said, her arms still around him from where she wrapped the fur around him. He looked up at her as she offered him a warm smile before moving to sit next to him. She looked forward as she began to talk again. "Are you nervous about returning tomorrow?" She asked.

"A little," he replied, trying not to think of what the next day would hold.

"Everything will be okay, Naruto-kun," she said in an attempt to reassure him. He didn't respond as he continued looking forward. When she didn't receive any response, she looked at his face to see if she could determine what he was thinking. What she saw, playing through the boy's eyes, was doubt. "Naruto-kun?" She said a bit louder to get his attention. Naruto turned and met the girl's worried face. "Are you having doubts?" She asked, unable to completely hide the fear in her voice.

"No, I am just a little worried," he replied. ''I am worried that, when they see me, they will throw me back out, or even try to kill me. One of the things Kyuubi taught me, while I was out here, is that humans have always hated what they fear, and they fear what they don't, or can't understand. It didn't make much sense to me back then, when he first said it. I just thought he was spouting some bull, trying to sound all-knowing and wise. After awhile, I started thinking how the villagers always treated me, as if I was some plague victim, and it started to make sense. They either didn't know, or didn't care, how the seal held the Kyuubi back. They just saw the demon child. Whispering it, as if to say it aloud would bring the Kyuubi back to raze the village to the ground.''

Hinata's smile had fallen as Naruto started reminiscing about his past. "I won't let anyone treat you like that anymore, Naruto-kun," she professed. As he turned his head to look at her, she summoned every ounce of courage at her disposal, "You promised you would always protect me. You may not need me to protect you physically, but I make this vow to you, I will never let any one treat you with anything less than the respect you deserve." Naruto's eyes widened, as she was making her vow. When she was finished, he smiled at her deviously. "Um... Naruto-kun why are...you..." Hinata's question petered out, her eyes widened dramatically, and her heartbeat picked up a staccato rhythm, as Naruto gently lifted her chin with a clawed hand. He slowly started to lean forwards towards her face, and Hinata quickly blushed a bright red. _Oh...Oh...Naruto-kun is leaning forward...He is so close to me...Is he going to k-k-kiss me. _

As Naruto's bangs gently brushed across her forehead, she had time for one last thought. _Be gentle with me, Naruto-kun. It's my first time._ Naruto turned her head slightly, and softly licked her from the base of her jaw, across her cheek, and to the edge of her ear. _He...licked me. _The intimacy of such an act quickly overwhelmed her, and she fainted in Naruto's arms. Naruto smiled and pulled her close only devoting a small portion of his mind to the enjoyment of holding his mate; the majority of his mind being focused on the area around them.

An hour had passed, night having had long since taken a firm hold over the sky. Naruto shook Hinata's shoulder slightly with his hand. This only succeeded in causing the girl to snuggle closer to him. He shook her again with a little more force. A small, soft 'Hmm?' came the semi conscious girl's reaction.

"Hinata-chan, why don't you go to bed?" He asked the drowsy angel curled up against him.

"I want to stay here with you." Her voice was still soft, indicating she still wasn't completely awake. Naruto looked over at the girl's face. Her eyes were closed and her face looked peaceful. He decided that he couldn't really bring himself to wake her so he picked her up, being careful not to disturb her, and carried her into the cave, placing her on the bed of furs he had made. After he laid her down, he covered her with the furs he had sat aside for her to use as blankets.

Naruto returned to his rock near the entrance. He sat down and shifted his focus outwards to make sure there was no threat in the immediate area. When he was sure nothing was around he allowed a portion of his mind to drift back to the events that transpired over the previous three weeks.

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It was growing late, and the pair sat, in their den, across from each other. Hinata was staring at the fire in contemplation, and Naruto, pleased with his progress so far, was working on a new genjutsu from one of the scrolls he memorized. He was figuring out the details rapidly as his focus was shattered.

"Naruto-kun?" The girl across from him said, causing him to look up. He saw her flinch slightly when their eyes met, but let it slide. She had been through so much lately, and he had changed a lot. "When the snow melts I'm going to have to return to Konoha, and I want you to return with me," she continued.

_Damn._ He cursed mentally, completely forgetting about the genjutsu he had been working on. Aloud he said, "I can't return to that place. You remember how people treated me, and what happened. Why don't you stay here with me instead?" He hoped to change her mind.

"I'm sorry, Naruto-kun. I can't live like this. I want to finish the academy and become a ninja. When the snow melts they'll probably send a search party for me. Please come with me. We can go to the academy together," she pleaded. Naruto was realizing that he wouldn't be able to change the girl's mind.

_Dammit, I have to choose between my den and lifestyle, and my mate._ Grumbling he stood up. "I have to think," he said as he turned and walked in to the next chamber. When he arrived, he was too distracted to worry about removing his clothes and simply climbed into the makeshift bed. _I promised I'd protect her, and I very well can't do that if she's there and I'm here._ He growled. _I also promised I wouldn't let anything take her away from me._ He didn't like it, but kitsune were forced to adhere to their word. As part kitsune he too was bound to his word, and he really didn't want to twist any of his promises to his mate. Sure he could force her to stay, but he wouldn't do that to her.

**"You could always teach them their places,"** Kyuubi chimed in, a hint of blood lust in his voice.

Naruto nodded mentally to his tenant. _I really don't have much of a choice in the matter. I promised her, and I can't go back on my promise. I will return with her, but I will NOT let them walk all over me anymore. I'll teach them who's the alpha in that pack._

Kyuubi was laughing in his head. **"Yes, brat! Put them in their places! Tear the place asunder! Teach them who's superior!"** He reveled in the thought of a blood bath. The ground stained, and the rivers flowing with blood. His laugh grew more maniacal.

With his decision made, the demon boy rolled over and allowed himself to drift off to sleep. He was completely unaware of when Hinata joined him in bed, or the dismay she felt.

Naruto awoke early the next morning. He quickly and quietly left the fur bed and made his way to the main chamber. He sat there contemplating on what he was going to do. He was still left very agitated about the situation, and he had other thoughts playing through his mind.

**"Alright, brat. It's time I teach you how to use another one of your abilities."** Kyuubi said into his prisoner's mind.

_Not right now._ The boy thought to his tenant.

**"You listen here, brat! I will not be shrugged aside because of some pathetic little human emotions! You WILL listen to me! You WILL do as I say! Is that clear!"** The demon growled at the youth, enraged at his attempt to push him aside.

Naruto growled inwardly at the demon fox, but allowed it to continue, knowing he'd not receive any peace until he complied. **"Gather some wood. I'm going to teach you how to use your kitsune-bi,"** the kitsune ordered. The boy retrieved some dry wood from the pile and placed it in the fire pit. **"Now focus on your center of power. Draw on the power, and try to focus it to make a flame. Envision the flame in your hand at first. Later you'll be able to do more with it,"** Kyuubi told his vessel, and left him in silence to practice this new ability. Naruto focused inwardly on his center of power. Holding his hand out to the wood in the pit, he drew on a bit of the power as he focused on the image of a flame in his hand. A small flame about half the size of a baseball, that glowed with a mixed blueish white hue, appeared in his hand. He reached his hand forward and touched the white-blue orb to the wood, causing it to ignite instantly. He extinguished the flame, and recreated it a few more times, until he was sure he had it down.

After a time, he had quit practicing, and, grabbing a stick, began prodding the dying fire to expose some of the unburnt portions of the wood. He heard the stirring and shuffling in their bed chamber, as well as the steps leaving it, but didn't react to any of it. "Naruto-kun?" She asked, failing to hide the depression in her tone.

He was still rather upset with the idea, but he couldn't abandon his mate. Not wanting to let her see how upset about the idea he really was, he didn't turn to look at her as he answered the unspoken question. "I'll return with you." With this statement he could feel the girl's eyes boring into his back even more.

"W-what?" He heard her stunned voice stutter out.

Letting out a quiet sigh, he steeled his features as he looked over his shoulder at the girl. "I'll return to Konoha with you," he stated again. He saw the look of doubt and depression on the girl's face fade, to be replaced with a smile. She ran up to the boy, fell to her knees behind him, and threw her arms around him, giving him a hug from behind.

"This makes me so happy, Naruto-kun. I couldn't stand the thought of losing you again." The relief in her tone was evident. He patted her hand with his, as he turned back to look at the flame. _Maybe this won't be so bad after all._ He thought to himself, with a small smile creeping onto his lips.

The next three weeks were occupied with Hinata walking on cloud nine at the thought of returning to the village with her long lost friend. She had spent the days teaching Naruto some of what she had learned at the academy so far, hoping that he might be able to join her class. The boy, however, was dealing with a lot of inner turmoil, only a portion of it being from the idea of returning to the village. He hid it well though, and was slightly mollified by all he was learning, as well as the constant smile plastered on his mate's face.

At the end of the third week the snow had melted enough to allow safe passage to Konoha, and Naruto, making good on his promise, had began gathering his stuff early that morning. _We're leaving today. I'm going to have to ask her today._

**"What are you going on about, brat? What does that inferior mind of your's have planned?"** Kyuubi asked, annoyed. _None of your business, fox._ He responded to the voice in his head as he continued packing away his scroll collection. This caused Kyuubi to growl, **"Damn you, brat! How dare you speak to me that way! Now answer me!"**

The boy's inner argument was interrupted as the cave's other occupant entered. "Good morning, Naruto-kun," she said in a soft voice, rubbing the sleep from her eyes.

"Morning, Hinata-chan," he responded, packing away another scroll.

"What are you doing?" The girl asked, still a little out of it, as she walked up and sat next to Naruto.

"The snow has melted enough for safe passage. I figured we'd start for Konoha today," he said as he continued his packing.

This completely snapped Hinata out of her drowsy state. Letting out a squee, she threw her arms around the feral child, smiling from ear to ear. After breaking the embrace, she began helping the boy pack his possessions.

After a brief time packing, Naruto looked over at his mate as she turned his direction to place a ring in the sack. She looked up and locked eyes with his. "Hinata-chan, there's something I've been meaning to ask you," he said in a nervous voice. _Damn, this is harder than I thought._

"Yes, Naruto-kun?" She asked in a curious voice.

**"What are you doing, brat?"** Kyuubi asked, annoyed with his prison, and the state he was in.

Ignoring Kyuubi's inquiry, he looked down nervously and continued, "Will you be my mate?"

"Aren't I already your mate?" She asked in a confused manner.

"I'd like your consent," he said without looking up. _I'd like to know you accept me._

**"Real intelligent, brat,'' **Kyuubi sarcastically stated.** ''Give her an out. Damn you and your human honor," **the voice in the back of his head chided him.

"Of course, Naruto-kun," she said with a smile. She pulled him into a hug, which caused Naruto smile as well. The pair returned to the packing. Once all of his belongings were packed away, Hinata strapped the forbidden scroll to her back, and the two youths left.

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The jounin team was trudging through the ankle deep snow, their cloaks wrapped tightly around them to keep the wind and snow at bay. Hana and her dogs took point again, she was followed by Kurenai, and in the rear was a purple haired, browned eyed kunoichi. Anko was chosen to join this mission in case they came across another battlefield. The three were making slower progress than usual as they searched to try to locate the demon's or the Hyuuga heiress' trail.

"What the hell are we doing out here in this damn snow again?" Anko grumbled.

"We're out here to locate Hinata Hyuuga," Kurenai called over her shoulder in an annoyed tone at her friends agitation.

"And why am I here again? It's way too damn cold," Anko's grumbling continued.

"You're here in case we stumble across another battle site, and you wouldn't be so cold if you wore real clothing instead of that fishnet, skirt, and trench coat," Kurenai responded, her agitation growing. Anko's grumbling continued, but she didn't say anything else as they continued the search.

The jounin trio had been searching for hours and night had fallen. They still found no signs of what they were searching for. Having failed to find any leads, they decided to stop and set up camp. Anko got drafted into the first watch, Kurenai volunteered for the second, and Hana took the third. Anko's watch was filled with annoyed grumbling, but otherwise was uneventful. Kurenai spent her watch thinking of her missing sister figure, again it was uneventful. Hana's watch was spent in the company of her dogs. Slightly before the sun began to rise, the Inuzuka woman woke her companions. Once awake, though Anko was reluctant about the idea, they ate their rations and set off again.

It was about an hour later before the Haimaru Sankyodai picked up the scents they were looking for. They barked their communication back to the Inuzuka woman, before they began leading them. The jounin women followed the dogs as she relayed to her team what they had just told her.

"They said they found the demon's and Hyuuga's scents, and that they're still fairly fresh." A hopeful look spread across Kurenai's face at the revelation of Hinata's scent being fresh. _If the scent is still fresh... She may still be alive._ The crimson eyed jounin thought. They followed the trail until it brought them to a rock formation that held a cave. Upon their arrival one of the dogs turned and let out a series of barks and growls. Kurenai and Anko stopped to hear Hana translate the information for them. "He said that the area is permeated with the two scents. It seems they've been here for quite a while. Let's see what we can find," she said as she relayed what her dog told her.

The group split up, Hana and her Haimaru chose to check around outside. Anko and Kurenai both cautiously stepped into the cave, in case there was something inside waiting for them. Entering the antechamber the jounin pair discovered signs that it had been occupied. A small pit dug out, surrounded by rocks, with ashes lining the bottom. A small pile of wood set to one side. They silently crept to the left chamber first. When they looked in they saw it was completely bare. Finding it empty, they moved to the back alcove. Inside they found a couple of burlap sacks, a few crates, some broken, and some pots and cooking utensils. Moving on to the last room they found it vacant as well.

"I'll see if I can find any tracks here in the cave," Anko volunteered, not wanting to be out in the cold any more than she had to be.

Kurenai nodded to her friend. "I'll go check the back alcove. See if I can discover anything in those containers," she offered. She went to the back, while Anko started covering the ground with a fine tooth comb. It didn't take her long to find what she was looking for in the dirt that had accumulated on the floor.

"Hey, Kurenai. I found some foot prints," Anko called to her friend in the other chamber. The brown haired jounin left the back of the cave and joined the purple haired woman, standing next to her. "Look," Anko said as she gestured to a pair of foot prints, one was a pair of boot prints while the other appeared to be bare. Kurenai nodded as she concluded the same thing as her purple haired companion. She whistled to their third companion. Hana was there in a matter of moments, her dogs following behind her.

"What did you find?" The Inuzuka woman inquired. Anko gestured the woman over, then pointed out the tracks when she stepped up next to her. "Two sets of foot prints, one set booted, and the other bare," Hana said off handedly as she checked the prints. "Find anything else?" She asked as she turned to the two jounin that had searched the cave.

Kurenai was the first to start. "Some supplies in the back. A few spoiled rations in the crates, and some cooking utensils. A couple burlap sacks were back there, but they were empty. There's a fire pit over there," she gestured in the direction of the pit, "and a pile of wood to the side over there," she then pointed to the pile of wood. "The two side chambers were empty," she finished.

Anko spoke next. "After Kurenai and I checked the cave to make sure it was vacant, I found these prints. When I found them I called Kurenai. She, then, called you," the purple haired special jounin reported.

"This entire area is covered by their scents. There are numerous trails branching off, but there's no way of telling which is the most recent," Hana informed the other two of her findings. "I think it would be best if we reported our findings back to the Hokage. If the Hyuuga heiress is still alive and in the area, he'll most likely want to send out more teams to find her. We should hurry. It sounds like the cave has been abandoned from what the two of you have said," she continued.

The three left the cave, and began rushing, full jounin speed, back towards the village. No longer needing to find a trail, the three took to the trees to cover more ground. Along the lines Kurenai ended up in the lead. She was in a much bigger hurry than the other two. She wanted to report as soon as possible to make sure that if Hinata was still alive, she would be safe soon.

Kurenai was the first out of the woods. When the village gates came into view, she saw numerous bodies laying on the ground, Maito Gai was recovering, from his infamous jump-kick, before a boy with blond tipped red hair, who was wearing a gray shirt and brown pants, and Kakashi Hatake appeared behind said boy, chopping him in the neck, knocking him out. "Naruto-kun!" The distraught female voice drew her attention to someone she had failed to notice prior. She saw a girl with dark hair, dressed in gray, run over to the now unconscious boy. The woman recognized her immediately.

"Hinata?" She asked herself silently.

"What the hell!" Anko's yell caused Kurenai to jump slightly. She wasn't even aware of her team mates catching up to her due to the spectacle at the gate.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

"We're almost home, Naruto-kun," Hinata said in a voice laced with happiness when she recognized the woods. She took the lead, and didn't notice the down trodden look on the feral child's face.

_Almost back._ Naruto thought as echoes of "Demon brat" rang through his mind, accompanied by memories of the various beatings he received from the villagers in his youth. When the gates came into view, the events of that final night began running through his head again. Hinata, noticing Naruto was falling behind, reached back and grabbed his hand as she increased her pace.

The scene had finished for the third time when Naruto was snapped out of his thoughts. "Halt!" The male voice snapped his mind back to the present. He didn't hear anything else as he looked at the origin of the voice. The face he saw started changing before his eyes to one he remembered from his past. The scarred face looked directly at him as it's lips moved. When their eyes met, Naruto entered into a defensive stance and unconsciously began channeling chakra. The man's eyes widened as his face faded from the scarred jounin from his past to the one who stood guard. Next thing he heard was an alarm sound and the gates slam shut.

**"Yes, brat! Kill them! Kill them all!"** The anxious voice in his mind demanded. Naruto turned towards the second guard, who had just activated some complex looking seal next to the gate, and saw a kunai slicing through the air. He spun his body around the kunai as it neared him, using the momentum of the spin to pluck the kunai out of the air. At the end of his spin he threw the weapon back to the chunin guard, and started charging at him. He quickly closed the distance to the chunin guard, who was recovering from dodging the kunai, and punched him in the temple, causing him to black out. His first target out of commission, he turned to the jounin who had just finished the hand seals of a jutsu.

Lifting his left hand, which he made a ring with his index finger and thumb, to his mouth, he cried out, "Katon: Gōkakyū no Jutsu!" He quickly inhaled a deep breath, then exhaled through his hand. The fire based chakra in his hand mixed with the air he was exhaling created a giant flame, which burned through the air towards Naruto. Naruto, seeing this blast of fire, quickly used his kitsune illusion to cause himself to vanish. The guard, losing the demon boy, halted his jutsu, and he scanned the area in search of his target. The search came to an abrupt end when he felt a small spike of chakra right before something slammed him in the back and flung him through the air. He twisted to try and gain control of his undesired flight, only to slam into a tree. His last thought, as his consciousness faded, was wondering where in the hell that tree had come from.

Naruto reappeared, and his illusion of a tree faded, as a trio of ninjas landed after jumping over the gate. Hinata could only watch in horror as the events of that night played out on a grander scale. They were trying to kill her Naruto-kun, just because he was who he was, as he said they would. Growling, the feral child decided this would be the perfect opportunity to try one of his new jutsu. Forming a cross seal with his hands, he said, "Kage Bunshin no Jutsu!" Six shadow clones appeared around him, each encompassed in their own red aura. He saw the two new ninjas on the sides, both wearing chunin vests, charging towards him. The one in the center, in a jounin vest, was going through a series of seals. The six Narutos dropped to all fours in preparation to avoid the onslaught, and spread out. The two charging chunin found themselves face to face with two Naruto's each, leaving one in the center, and two that had seemed to have vanished.

The jounin, upon completing his hand seals, bit his thumb, drawing blood, and slammed it into the ground. "Kuchiyose no jutsu!" Next to the ninja appeared a gray-black wolf, it was roughly four feet tall and had piercing yellow eyes. It locked eyes with the center feral child, who had began charging it on all fours. The wolf snapped out and bit down on the boy's head, only for the boy to disappear in a puff of smoke. It was so distracted by the smoke from the first boy that it failed to notice the second one coming from the side, nor did it notice the hand seals he was completing. "Aryuusan Kisoku!" The canine had only had time to hear the words before it's head, neck, and flank were completely encompassed in a viscous green liquid. The summoning jounin stared wide eyed as his acid covered companion howled in pain. Turning towards the source of the acid, he was met with the bottom of a fist that was already mere inches from his face. He began to dodge to the side, underestimating the hammer hand's speed, and had it connect with his cheek, cracking the bone, and sending him flying off his feet.

The chunin on the right looked over as he dodged one of the pair of attacks that flew at him, he saw his companion go down as his summon vanished into smoke. He dodged a sweep with a back flip, and while he was flipping he flung three kunai at the red head standing over his companion. They embedded themselves in the child's back, only for him to vanish into a puff of smoke. Cursing as he landed, he turned back to the taijutsu match he was having with the pair in front of him. He attacked with a punch, punch, kick combo, only to have them dodged effortlessly. His focus was forced to shift from the one that had just ducked his kick to the one who had lunged at him. He jumped to the side, starting some seals. He completed the seals as the ducked one slammed his fist into his stomach. When the smoke cleared, the feral clone saw he had punched a dent into a log. Letting out a growl, the pair of demons began searching for their target. "Magen: Jubaku Satsu," a voice said from an unknown location. The feral children were still sniffing the air so they had no difficulty locating the invisible chunin. Over estimating his jutsu, the chunin never expected the attack that broke his ribs and sent him to the ground. From the pain in his chest and blood pooling in his mouth, he could tell that his lungs had been pierced by bone fragments.

The final chunin, having just dispatched one of the clones with a palm strike to the sternum, saw the three Narutos closing in on him. He cursed the burning in his arms from where his strikes connected, and were subsequently blocked by, his opponent's aura. He weaved back and to the side, to avoid a hook kick that had been aimed for his head. Continuing with the momentum, he did a back flip, while attempting to kick his assailant. Naruto dropped to the ground, and threw his leg out, taking out one of the ninja's supporting arms. Using his remaining arm he pushed off, and did a haphazard and sloppy flip, Upon landing, the three circled around him and lunged at once. One going low, one for his stomach, and one for his head. He jumped to avoid his attackers. As he rose in the air, he pulled out a couple shuriken and pegged two of the tumbling Narutos in the back, causing them to vanish into a puff of smoke. At the apex of his jump he was met with a severe pain in his back as his momentum was violently shifted forward. The momentum was promptly halted as a new burning sensation claimed his arm. He only had time to turn and see red hair and red eyes as he was flung toward the ground. Between the speed of the throw and the pain in his back the ninja's attempt to right himself ended with him landing on his back instead of his head, compounding the injury from where the demon child elbowed his spine.

Naruto didn't even make it to the ground before the next wave was upon him. Six more ninja bounded over the wall, three shinobi and three kunoichi. As soon as they cleared the wall they let loose a hail of kunai and shuriken. The boy on the ground vanished into smoke, and the one in the air was hit by numerous of the projectiles. Seeing how badly he was out numbered, the boy's red aura intensified as his eyes began to glow. Reaching into his center of power, the youth expanded his illusionary power outward. The gates faded as the ninjas landed, everything within eye shot became the image of an overgrown woods. A sense of vertigo hit each of the new additions to the fight as they lost their sense of direction. Each one made a hand seal, accompanied by "Kai!" as they attempted to break the genjutsu. Much to their dismay, their attempt failed.

The first one went down in no time at all as the red head jumped out of one of the illusionary trees, and struck her in the back of the head. They all went to converge on him, only for him to jump into another tree and vanish. The remaining five backed into a circle, and entered a defensive stance, to make sure they didn't get sneak attacked again. Two of them saw the boy charging right at them, much faster than they expected from someone his age. They warned the rest as they launched a hail of kunai and shuriken at the boy who, upon the weapons reaching him, disappeared as if he was never there. Hearing a dull crack, they turned to see the second kunoichi collapse to the ground. The cracking of twigs warned them of an approaching person, and an eldritch howl on the wind, worried them as they pulled out their kunai and prepared to throw them, upon seeing their target.

A gasp from the final kunoichi brought their attention to a creature that they had never imagined could exist, except in their worst nightmares. In the forest's dim light, it seemed to be a bulky ever shifting mass, colored a dark purple, with a body that looked to be the texture of wet leather. Innumerous eyes slid around on it's ever changing form. As it slowly slithered it's way towards the group, a mass of tentacles slowly ripped out of its body in a black spray of ichor and goo, which upon hitting the ground started eating a hole in the forest floor. The horrified ninja all started throwing shuriken and kunai at the horror before them, but they seemed to do no damage as after tearing into the creature, its chaotic form would just cover the wound up.

Deciding as one to change tactics they switched to ninjutsu, they started forming hand seals, when three of the tentacles shot forward with the force of a bullet, and seemed to stretch to an impossible length, one wrapping itself around the kunoichi's arms and torso, the others knocking the three remaining shinobi off their feet. The smell of decay, and an acrid scent reached the ninja and they had to force themselves not to gag, as the tentacle retreated, pulling the nearly completely immobilized kunoichi with it. As the tentacles retracted, they seemed to disappear into the creatures form, until only the tentacle holding the kunoichi remained outside. It's corrosive fluid seeping out of its pores were dissolving parts of her clothes and weapons, as the remaining tentacles writhed around in an agitated manner.

As if sensing her helpless state the agitated tentacles started undulating against her in a disturbing manner. Seeing this the three shinobi jumped to their feet and charged the nightmarish beast, hoping to draw its attention off the nearly nude kunoichi. As their charge neared completion, the forest itself seemed to come alive. The trees reached out and grabbed at them, while their roots ripped out of the ground trying to trip them up. Busy dodging, they never saw the tentacles that reached out and wrapped around their legs. The horror whipped the three male ninja against the ground over and over, seeming to ignore their pained cries, and the sickening snaps of broken limbs, until they went limp in its grasp.

Naruto stared, horrified, as his illusion started acting out, almost as if it had a will of its own. Seeing the abyssal creature flinging out two more tentacles to wrap around the two unconscious kunoichi, he decided enough is enough. Pushing his kitsune powers into the creature, he came upon a consciousness, that should not have been there. A dark, terrible mind had seemed to latch onto his illusion, and was trying to manifest itself through the curtain that separates realities. Naruto quickly realized, that the illusion was no longer being powered by his kitsune powers, but rather by this entities will. Upon closer examination of the denizen of darkness' mind, was a whirlwind of confusing thoughts and emotions. His willpower was quickly assaulted, and he was lacking in any real mental defenses. He was helpless in a matter of a few moments, a bystander to the coming atrocity.

The mind battle had only taken a couple seconds, and Naruto was feeling dizzy and sick with the mental thoughts, currently entering his mind, on what the beast was going to do to the three kunoichi. The only kunoichi of the group who was still conscious was whimpering in fear and revulsion as the tentacles started their macabre dance across her and her fellow kunoichi bodies. Naruto could feel her fear give the creature more power. More tentacles ripped from the creatures body, winding themselves around the kunoichi's arms and legs pulling them spread eagle away from their bodies. As they were held completely immobile, a couple remaining tentacles merged together to form a single thick tentacle, which slowly crept up her leg. As it slid past her mid-thigh, her eyes rolled up, and her mind shut itself down. Naruto couldn't help but think _Thank the kami, Hinata is outside the illusion._

The monstrosity seemed to suddenly stop, and Naruto felt it's mind slam into his. His memories were laid bare as it raped its way through his mind. Quickly realizing that it was searching out Hinata's location, through his memories, Naruto started trying to stop it's onslaught of his memories. As his memories of the last hour started replaying through his mind, at an extreme speed, he redoubled his efforts to halt them. His efforts were in vain, however, as it mentally batted at him as if he were a fly. Blood pouring out of his mouth, nose, and ears from reliving the past hour in a couple seconds, Naruto collapsed onto the forest floor.

Mentally and physically exhausted, Naruto slowly started to drag his body towards the ancient horror. He started drawing chakra to revitalize his body, as he was inching his way towards the creature. It almost seemed amused by his futile attempt to stop it. Naruto felt the forest around him waver and shift, as the creature started altering the illusion to include Hinata, so it could feast off of her as well. A flash of inspiration struck him suddenly, and Naruto acted upon it, while the nightmarish beast was busy altering his illusionary world. Grabbing every last piece of his kitsune powers, Naruto reinforced his mind with the memories of the past month with Hinata, and slammed his will into the creatures mind, while simultaneously pushing all his energy into overloading the illusion. The ancient horror made its first sound since its conception. It howled a mournful eerie cry. It seemed to echo for an eternity and yet lasted no more than a few seconds. Naruto felt it's chaotic mind fade back behind the curtain from which it came.

Naruto saw Konohagakure reappear as the illusionary nightmare forest disappeared. He fell to one knee panting as he had used every ounce of energy from his kitsune powers to make that nightmarish illusion shatter. **"Good illusion, brat. You remembered my story of the ancient horrors that reside in the darkest realms of man's dreams, and the deepest depths of the oceans. In a couple years, you might even have enough power to summon and control a real one."**

Naruto was about to respond, completely horrified at how evil and depraved that creature was, when a voice cried out, "Dynamic Entry!" The boy looked at the source of the voice to see a man, clad in green spandex, with a his black hair cut into a bowl cut, and large eyebrows, flying at him with his leg extended. The boy, completely exhausted, threw his arms up, barely able, to block, but he was forced back a couple feet. The youth prepared to face his new attacker when he felt a chop to the back of his neck. He could feel himself falling forward as his world faded to black.

Hinata watched as a ninja clad in black, with a black mask and black hitai-ate covering his left eye, a green jounin vest, and gray spiked hair, appeared behind Naruto. He didn't have the chance to react, even if he had noticed him, before the ninja chopped the back of his neck with the bottom of his hand. The boy crumpled and fell forward. "Naruto-kun!" Hinata yelled as she ran to her crush. When she reached him, she entered a jyuuken stance, fully intent on protecting him.

"What's going on here?" Everyone's attention was drawn to the new voice. Turning to look, everyone saw Sarutobi drop down from above the gate, followed by three animal masked figures.

Maito Gai, the green clad jounin, turned towards the elderly Hokage, extended his right arm, with his thumb up, closed his left eye, and gave a big toothy grin, entering his good guy pose. "Yosh! My eternal rival and I just knocked out this demon before he had the chance to extinguish the fires of our village's youth!" Gai said, warranting an eye roll from Kakashi, the black clad ninja.

"It seems he only knocked out most of the other ninjas. It looks like he put a couple of these through the ringer though. I would suggest we get a medical squad here as quickly as possible," Kakashi Hatake followed with his customary lazy tone.

Sarutobi turned to one of his ANBU guards, "Go retrieve a medical squad to see to these ninja. You need to make it quick, we don't know the condition they are in." Turning back, he saw someone, he hadn't seen for a while, standing over the boy. "Oh, Hinata, it's good to see you're safe. What happened here?" Sarutobi asked the girl after noticing her. She proceeded to tell him about Naruto channeling chakra and the following ninja attack. With the Hokage being distracted, the two special jounin began tending to the injured with the little medical jutsu they did know.

"After they knocked him out, I thought they were going to try to kill him so I stepped in," Hinata finished her story.

"I see. Let's go somewhere more private to discuss this. I'm sure more than these," he gestured at ninjas that had accumulated while Hinata explained, "will be showing up. Follow me," he finished as he began to turn to leave, stopping only to tell the ANBU he spoke with previously to carry the boy.

"Okay, Hokage-sama. I just need to grab our stuff," she said as she went over to where they had dropped Naruto's belongings. Sarutobi watched her, and saw a very familiar scroll.

"Hinata, if I may ask, isn't that our village's Forbidden Scroll of Seals? How did the two of you come by it?" The elderly Hokage asked.

"Naruto-kun had it. He said he found it on a corpse. He didn't say whose though," she responded.

"Did he learn any jutsu from it?" His line of questioning continued.

"I know he read it a lot, but I don't know if he learned any jutsu from it. I do know he didn't know how to use jutsu until I taught him the hand seals," she offered.

"I see," the Sandaime said. He turned to another ANBU, "Take that and lock it away," he said gesturing at the scroll. The ninja nodded and complied. Hinata, with the sack of Naruto's belongings, followed Sarutobi and the ANBU that was carrying Naruto into town.

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Naruto was in the illusionary forest, being held down by vines, that had pinned him to a tall oak tree. Hinata, was currently being held upside down, naked, by the ancient horror. As she called out to Naruto for help, a tentacle shoved it's way into her mouth and into the back of her throat, causing her to gag around it. Naruto screamed in impotent fury, trying to release himself from the steel-like vines. A thick tentacle tore out of the top of the multi-eyed creature, and made it's path downward to Hinata's virgin entrance. A dark mocking laughter rang out, as it shot down into her quickly, as Naruto screamed.

Naruto sat up and yelled, "Hinata!" The first thing he noticed was the fact that he was sitting in a bed covered in, sweat soaked, white linen sheets, and was in a white room. He began looking around the room, noticing an identical, unoccupied bed near the opposite wall. In between the beds was a window with white curtains. Around the room he saw unfamiliar machines.

"You're awake, Naruto. Are you all right?" The voice drew his attention to the foot of his bed. He saw an elderly man wearing a red and white hat, with the kanji for fire on it, and a white robe. He noticed Hinata quickly making her way to his side, with a worried look on her face.

Naruto nodded his head, "Hey gramps. I am fine, it's just an aftereffect of a jutsu I used earlier. It's nothing to worry about." Taking a few deep breath to steady himself he sat up, grabbed Hinata's hand, and asked, "What happened?"

"There was a spike of demon chakra originating from around the gate. When I arrived there I found you on the ground unconscious with Hinata standing over you. She told me about the whole fight at the gate. I hope you bare them no ill will. After the Kyuubi attack they've been quite paranoid of such things, and rightly so," Sarutobi informed him.

"They attacked me, and I defended myself," Naruto shrugged, "I made sure not to kill any of them. I knew my return was going to be hard enough to begin with, without me having to slaughter a bunch of people the second I arrived. Don't expect me to show mercy like that again, though. Mercy is a weakness, I can ill afford," the youth reasoned to the old man.

**"Damn you, brat! You disappoint me. The perfect chance for revenge and you squander it because of your human sentimentality. Worthless!"** Kyuubi berated the boy. Naruto only grunted in response.

The Sandaime, not liking what he had just heard from the child, decided to change the subject for the moment. Going back and retrieving a chair, he said, "It's been years, Naruto. Why don't you tell me what happened and what you've been up to?" At his request, Naruto began relating the story of the events that transpired the last few years, beginning with the incident with the mob and ending with the trek to the gate. "Well that would explain the red eyes and hair," Sarutobi said to himself, as he gripped his chin. Then he turned slightly towards Hinata, and looked at her out of the corner of his eye. "Your mate huh? And she agreed to this?" He asked the boy.

"Yeah, gramps. She agreed to it before we left," Naruto responded.

"And you both slept together before that?" The old man inquired, turning a discerning eye towards the boy.

"W-we d-didn't d-do anything, H-Hokage-sama," Hinata stuttered, her blush betraying her embarrassment.

"Yeah, I was just doing it to put my scent on her," Naruto chimed in.

"Your scent? Well sounds innocent enough, if a little odd," turning to Hinata, he continued, "Since you're his mate, wouldn't that make you Hinata Uzumaki?" The old man laughed. Hinata's blush spread to cover her face.

"You know, old man. You have a point," Naruto said, taking Sarutobi's joke seriously.

"N-Naruto-kun?" Hinata stuttered, emotionally confused about this unexpected turn in the conversation.

"You're my mate. It's only fitting you have my last name," Naruto reasoned. The elderly Hokage's laughing intensified.

Getting his laughing under control, Sarutobi decided to spare the girl any more discomfort for the moment to allow her a chance to adjust to Naruto's reasoning. "We'll discuss that more later. Naruto, there's something I want to ask you about your arm."

"What is it?" Naruto asked curiously.

"About a month ago, a jounin team, who were tracking Hinata's kidnappers, found an arm at the scene of a battle. It appeared to be from an eleven year old boy, and had some notable demonic qualities. Strangely, it hasn't even started to decay. Do you know anything about this?" The old man inquired.

"Oh that? My arm was blown off in the fight against Hinata-chan's kidnappers," he responded.

"But you have both arms," Sarutobi stated, a little shocked.

"Yeah, I just regrew it," Naruto said as if he was saying the sky was blue. This caused the old man to look at him as if he had grown three heads and sprouted a tail.

"You can regrow lost limbs?" Sarutobi could barely keep the awe out of his voice. Naruto nodded. "You know most people can't do that right?" He asked. Naruto only shrugged his response.

The old man was brought back to the present from his mental wondering by another change in subjects. "Hinata-chan wants me to attend the academy with her. I already told you about the training she gave me over the past month," Naruto said while looking squarely at the old man.

"Well I can get you into the academy, but I can't be sure I can put you in Hinata's class. I'll probably have to put you as a first year student," the old man said contemplatively. This elicited a growl from the feral child. "Now that I think about it, if what I heard about what happened at the gate is true I can probably get you into her class. I'll need to personally see what you're capable of, however," he continued. He was shocked when the boy, girl, and entire room faded. He found himself in a white void, unable to sense anything. He attempted to break, what he believed to be a genjutsu, with "Kai." His attempt failed. After a moment the silence was broken by a familiar boy's voice.

"Proof enough for you?" The voice echoed with a feral tone.

Sarutobi nodded and said, "That'll do." With the elderly man's acceptance of the show of power, everything came back to his vision as the void vanished.

"What about teams?" The young female's voice spoke up.

"Teams?" Naruto inquired.

"When students graduate from the academy, they are assigned as three man teams under a jounin instructor. You seem to have a knack for genjutsu so you'll probably end up on Kurenai Yuuhi's team," the Sandaime Hokage informed him.

"I will be placed on Hinata-chan's team! If not I'll just simply follow her team, abandoning my own," Naruto explained. He refused to be separated from his mate.

Sarutobi nodded, understanding his sentiment. "I'll see about arranging it, assuming you both pass."

"Um, Hokage-sama? The girl's voice was uncertain as she drew the elderly man's attention. "I don't think father will like me being Hinata Uzumaki and being Naruto-kun's mate. He may try to put the caged bird seal on me."

"Caged bird seal?" Naruto asked before the old man had a chance to respond.

"It's a seal that allows the main Hyuuga family to control the branch family with one hand seal. It causes extreme pain to spread throughout their bodies nerves, and if held long enough, it can kill the bearer," Hinata responded, the despair evident in her voice. Naruto jumped up, growling, as his eyes began to glow.

"I will not allow them to touch my mate," the feral child growled.

Mentally cursing the fact he couldn't smoke in the hospital, Sarutobi raised a placating hand. "Calm down, Naruto," he said, "As Hinata Uzumaki, she is no longer bound by the Hyuuga ways. I'll assign a couple of ANBU to watch over her and make sure no such attempts are made. And, Naruto. There are laws against attacking villagers, especially them attacking you. I ask you don't kill any of the villagers. I'll assign a couple of ANBU to you as well, to make sure the villagers stay in line. I'll reinforce everyone's knowledge of the law against attacking you. Our shinobi are well trained in discipline, so they shouldn't attack you. However, If a shinobi does attack you, please do not kill them. We still have not completely recovered from our last war with Iwa, and the Kyuubi incident. Now as you are basically asking for political asylum from the Hyuuga clan, I have a request to make of you, Naruto."

"Yes, old man?" Naruto asked.

"I would like to ask that you donate some of your blood each month, so that we may research it," Sarutobi asked as he thought of the medical implications this could have.

Naruto, happy with all that the elderly Hokage was going to help him and his mate with, quickly nodded his consent.

"Thank you. I have some matters I need to attend to. I'll see about finding you a place to stay. You're both free to go after a medical ninja withdraws some blood from you, Naruto." That said, Sarutobi excused himself and left.

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Having left the pair, Sarutobi went back to his office to prepare to accommodate the return of his surrogate grandson. Upon reaching the waiting area before his office, he saw Kurenai sitting there, torn between joy and confusion at what she saw at the gate. "Hello, Kurenai. What can I do for you?" He said drawing her attention.

"Oh hello, Hokage-sama. I was wanting to ask about Hinata and what happened at the gate. Is she okay?" Kurenai asked as she looked up at the Hokage from where she sat.

"She's doing fine. Let's go into my office where we can discuss everything," the elderly man offered as he entered his office, followed by the kunoichi. Sitting at his desk, Sarutobi took out his pipe and began loading it. "Have a seat," he said as he packed the tobacco. Kurenai sat as he instructed. She was waiting for the elderly man to finish before she spoke. He took out a match and used it to light his pipe. "Now how may I help you?" He asked, taking a long, soothing pull from his pipe.

"What happened to Hinata when she disappeared?" She asked when prompted.

"She was kidnapped by a pair of kumo nukenin when she left the village and entered the woods outside of Konohagakure. About a half days travel away, they stopped to rest, where they got attacked by Naruto. He took her to his den after freeing her, where she has been since," he said in an informative tone.

"So that really was Naruto she was with. What happened to him?" Her voice betrayed the shock she felt at what she just heard.

"What I'm about to tell you is classified. When Naruto was ran out of town about five and a half years ago he was injured. From what I can piece together, the chakra from the Doton Jutsu damaged the seal holding Kyuubi. Apparently not enough to free the demon, but enough to create a bridge between the seal and his chakra coils. Which allowed their chakra to completely intermix and alter him at the genetic level. He grew in the woods under the kitsune's tutelage. I guess it would be most accurate to say he is now a half demon," The old man responded. This only shocked the crimson eyed kunoichi more.

"A-a half demon? And he's with Hinata?" She exclaimed with worry about her younger friend.

"There's really nothing to worry about, Kurenai. If he wanted to do anything to her, he would have done so already. Aside from their unorthodox sleeping arrangements, there's nothing to worry about. He even took her as his mate," Sarutobi said as he inhaled from his pipe again.

"His mate?" She yelled, forgetting who she was talking to. After she realized what she had done, she froze. "I'm sorry, Hokage-sama. I'm just concerned about Hinata," she apologized as she bowed.

"It's quite alright. I can understand your concern," he said in a placating voice.

"What was the unorthodox sleeping arrangements you mentioned?" She asked.

"Naruto needs to put his scent on her to mark her as his mate, so they sleep together in the nude," he said fully expecting another out burst.

The color drained from her face as images of the two youths sleeping together in the nude and doing perverted things played through her mind. "Th-they sleep t-together n-nude?" She stuttered, embarrassed.

"They assure me that they do nothing untoward. It's one of Naruto's new instincts," he offered in an attempt to calm the stunned woman. When the female visibly calmed, he continued, "While I have you here, I do have a request. Naruto doesn't have a place here in the village, and Hinata is no longer a Hyuuga. Things will certainly get bad when Hiashi finds out about this past month. He is not allowed to put a caged bird seal on the girl, but she will most certainly be without a place as well. I would like to request that you allow them to stay with you, if it is no trouble. I will give you a stipend to help support them."

"I don't know, Hokage-sama," she said, overwhelmed with everything.

"That's okay. You don't have to decide right now. Just let me know when you do. Now if you'll excuse me, I have matters I must tend to," Sarutobi responded as he emptied his spent pipe. Kurenai mechanically stood, bowed, and left the office.

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Naruto and Hinata arrived at the outer gates to the Hyuuga compound. They were greeted by the branch members standing guard. "Oh, Hinata-sama. You've returned. Are you well? Is everything okay?" One asked the girl. Before she had the chance to respond, he turned to the other guard. "Go get Hiashi-sama. Let him know Hinata-sama has returned." The second guard vanished into a whirlwind of leaves.

"Hello Retsu-san. I'm doing okay. May I enter?" She asked the branch member.

"I'm sorry, Hinata-sama. Hiashi-sama instructed us to hold you here when you returned," Retsu replied. The three sat in silence for the next couple of minutes, until Hiashi arrived leading the second guard.

"So the weakling returns," he said as he looked down at Hinata, a look of disdain in his eyes.

"Father?" Hinata asked, stunned at the cold welcome she came home to.

"The main branch has no room for a weakling like you. I have announced Hanabi as the Hyuuga heir. You are hereby a member of the branch family," he continued, his tone still cold.

Hinata didn't even get the chance to respond before someone, previously unnoticed by Hiashi, growled out, "You bastard!" That was all the warning Hiashi needed to dodge the boy's lunge and claws.

"What the hell?" Hiashi stated angrily.

"Naruto-kun!" Hinata yelled to the boy who attacked her father.

"Naruto? The demon brat? You've returned? I guess it's time I put you down once and for all," Hiashi said as he entered his jyuuken stance. "Hakke Rokujuu Yonshou!" Naruto didn't have the chance to move before the attack began. "Two palms." He struck two tenketsu. "Four palms." Four more closed. "Eight palms." The attack continued. "Sixteen palms." Naruto felt every strike. "Thirty two palms." His strikes blurred. "Sixty four palms. Now you die, demon!" Hiashi finished his attack. The boy collapsed to his hands and knees, breathing heavily. "Still alive? We'll just have to remedy that." The Hyuuga sire didn't get the chance to make good his threat. Naruto looked up at the man, his eyes alive with the glow of red chakra. His aura encompassed his body as he prepared to show the man the error of his ways. Hiashi was taken aback by this turn of events. "How is that possible? I closed his tenketsu."

"Naruto-kun! Don't!" Tears and desperation laced Hinata's voice.

Naruto let his aura die away. "Get your things, Hinata. I will not allow any mate of mine to stay with this man," his voice burned with barely contained fury.

"That will not happen. Come, Hinata. It's time we apply your caged bird seal," Hiashi said as he reached for the girl. Naruto prepared to lunge, and remove his arm if he touched her. It never happened.

A voice spoke up, defusing the entire situation. "I apologize, Hiashi-sama, but we can not allow that. Under order of the Sandaime Hokage, no one is allowed to place the caged bird seal on Hinata Uzumaki." The company looked towards the voice to see two figures wearing black with white animal masks.

"Hinata Uzumaki? What the hell are you talking about? She is Hinata Hyuuga, my daughter, and no one, Hokage or not, is allowed to interfere in clan law. I will place the caged bird seal on her if I so choose," Hiashi spoke with a fury of his own.

"Naruto Uzumaki took her as his mate, and they sought asylum from the Hokage. At the time of their mating the Uzumaki clan was not a part of Konohagakure so we have no legal say in their arrangement, nor did it recognize Hyuuga clan laws. Even now that they are a part of Konohagakure, it was stipulated, that no one from this village is allowed to harm them, without severe repercussions. You are not allowed to touch her, and your clan laws no longer apply to her," the voice returned calmly. Hiashi let out a growl of agitation and stormed off. Naruto, though still angry, had been calmed by this turn of events. The masked figures accompanied Hinata to retrieve her things, both to help carry them, and make sure nothing happened. A boy with long, brown hair, and a head band wrapped around his forehead, glared at everyone present after witnessing the events that took place. Most didn't notice him, Naruto was too distracted by his anger, and the ANBU didn't care.

There was also a second spectator that no one had noticed. _I misjudged that kid. He looked like he was about to kill that bastard just for talking to her wrong. I like him. Time to go let the Hokage know my decision._ The crimson eyed woman vanished in a whirlwind of leaves.

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Naruto and Hinata, along with the two ANBU, were walking the village streets. Many people were glaring at them, and many of those were whispering about the demon, but none made a move due to their escort of ANBU. After walking in silence for a while, Hinata, without looking up, asked sadly, "What do we do about a place to live, Naruto?"

"We could always return to my den," he offered, knowing it was going to be shot down. When no reply came, he continued, "I don't know, Hinata-chan. I'm sure we'll figure out something. If nothing else, I can try to build us a cabin in the woods." Kurenai, who had been following them for some minutes, took this opportunity to make herself known.

"Hinata," she yelled as she ran towards them. Naruto and Hinata quickly turned towards the woman. The ANBU, who knew she was there, but were informed by Sarutobi that she was no threat, didn't react. After catching up to them, the jounin continued, "So, Hinata, long time no see. Who's your friend? Is he your boyfriend?" The last said as an attempt to tease her. She was disappointed when the girl didn't blush. _Well I guess if you sleep in the nude with your crush, you wouldn't be so easy to embarrass._

"Oh, Kurenai-sama. This is Naruto-kun. He saved me when I got kidnapped, and took care of me," Hinata smiled as she talked to the woman, welcoming this distraction from her troubles.

"Now what did I tell you?" Kurenai mock scolded.

"I'm sorry, Kurenai-san," she returned.

"That's better. Now what's this I hear about you not having a place to live?" Kurenai asked.

"Well, I'm no longer living at the Hyuuga compound, so I need to find a place to live," she said, depressed at being reminded of her troubles a bit too soon.

"Really now. Finally got fed up with the way they treated you huh? Tell you what, you and your boyfriend there can come stay with me," she said, still playing her roll of not knowing what's going on. Hinata was shocked about the offer.

"You mean it? We can stay with you?" She asked hopefully.

"I don't know. Can we trust her?" Naruto asked his mate, staring at the woman dubiously.

Kurenai turned to the boy who just spoke. "What? Don't trust your mate's older sister?" She said jokingly, then turned to give Hinata a wink. The girl just stood there with her jaw hanging open. _His mate? She knows? What did she mean by older sister?_

"You're her older sister? She told me she had a younger one, but never mentioned an older one," the feral child said, still eying the woman.

"Really? I'm hurt," she said jokingly, still riding the emotional high of Hinata not only returning, but getting away from her bastard of a father, Hiashi. "I'm not really her sister. Just close. So what do you two say? Want to take me up on my offer? Better hurry before it expires," she continued.

"We will. Thank you, Kurenai-nee-san," Hinata spoke up. She turned and nodded at Naruto, who was staring at her questioningly.

"Good. Come on. Let's go home," Kurenai said as she turned and motioned for the group to follow.

The group soon arrived at the apartment. Entering, Kurenai motioned to one of the closed doors. "That'll be your room. Sarutobi already told me about your sleeping arrangement. I can't say I agree with it, but I won't stop you. That is, until you do something that warrants me putting an end to it. In other words, nothing perverted." Understanding dawned on the girls face before she, Naruto, and the ANBU took their belongings into the room to drop them off. The ANBU disappeared after dropping off the items they were carrying. The rest of the day, and well into the night, was spent catching up between the group. As the trio were preparing to retire, Kurenai spoke up to say one last thing. "Oh, I was supposed to tell you two. Hinata, you're going to resume the academy next week, and, Naruto, you'll be attending with her. The two of you will be in the same class. I've heard your pretty good with genjutsu, Naruto. I'll have to have you show me sometime." That being said, the woman went to her room, leaving the two children. They retired to their room as well after taking a few minutes to absorb their new surroundings.

The rest of the week was spent with mostly everyone adjusting to the new arrangements. Naruto, who kept having nightmares, woke up periodically throughout the night, for the first couple of nights. They quickly tapered off as the week wore on, and he and Hinata prepared for his classroom debut. Naruto could smell that Kurenai had been mated, but when Hinata asked her if she was seeing anyone the woman denied it. He even heard the woman sneak out in the night a few times. The next day, the three went to a training ground, and Naruto showed the woman what he knew, specifically the kitsune illusion. To say Kurenai was impressed would be an understatement. After the display of skill, the woman took up training the two in her free time.

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"Attention class. Today we have a new student." The man speaking, was in his early twenties, had brown hair that was pulled back into a spiky topknot. He was wearing a gray-green chunin vest, a dark blue hitai-ate, dark blue pants and a shirt with red swirls on the shoulders. Just below his brown eyes was a scar that ran horizontally across his nose. Having the classes attention, Iruka called out, "You may enter now." The class saw a boy with blond tipped red hair enter. He was wearing a gray fur shirt, dark brown pants, and dark brown leather boots. The thing that caught there attention the most, however, was the red slitted eyes. Iruka motioned the boy to join him at the front of the class, which he did. After entering the room, Hinata entered and made her way to her seat. Everyone was too distracted by the new boy to really notice her yet. "Class, this is Naruto Uzumaki," a couple of people saw the hatred gleaming in the man's eyes. He turned to Naruto, "You may take your seat next to Hinata." The man didn't know why, but he was instructed to have the two sit together. Everyone became aware of Hinata's presence when her name was mentioned, though they still watched the new student. The room's sound level rose as various students talked amongst themselves, about the new kid.

Ino Yamanaka, who was sitting next to a girl with long pink hair, had long bleach blond hair, her eyes had black iris' with blue pupils. She was dressed in a purple shirt and skirt, with white cloth wrapped around her legs and torso. She couldn't pull her eyes off of Naruto. The rumors of what had happened the week prior had, like wildfire, quickly spread and grew throughout the village. She was enthralled looking into the slitted red eyes of the boy, whose aura and posture seemed to scream, look out danger. _So this is the boy who killed dozens of jounin and ANBU to protect Hinata. Why can't I find someone like that? He looks absolutely delicious._ She thought as she stared dreamily at him. She giggled quietly as visions of a scantily dressed Naruto and Sasuke catering to her every whim, danced through her head.

A black eyed boy with black hair, who was dressed in blue and gray, stared at him loathingly. _How dare someone like that have such power! I am an Uchiha! It should be mine! _Outwardly, he only let out a hmph.

Chouji Akimichi, a chubby boy with brown hair and swirls on his cheeks, who was wearing a cream colored shirt and scarf, green jacket, and gray pants, with bandages on his wrist to his forearms and running from his shorts to his sandals, glanced at the boy through the corner of his eyes as he continued eating his chips. He elbowed his friend who was sleeping next to him, "Hey, Shikamaru. What do you think of the new kid huh?"

Shikamaru Nara, the aforementioned brown eyed boy who had his black hair pulled into a topknot, wearing a mesh shirt with a gray jacket over it and brown pants, was too busy staring at the back of his eyelids to look at Naruto. He mumbled something about troublesome new kids, who made his friends interrupt his sleep.

Sakura Haruno, a girl with long, pink hair and teal eyes, who was wearing a red shirt and black, skin tight shorts, didn't even acknowledge the boy as she stared, hopelessly, at Sasuke, while subtly trying to make her forehead seem smaller.

Shino Aburame, who had dark brown, spiky hair, and was wearing sunglasses, a buttoned up gray coat with a high collar, which concealed most of his face, and black pants, just followed the boy with his eyes, while, silently, he raised an eyebrow.

Kiba, wearing his customary black fur lined gray jacket and gray pants, with his dog, Akamaru, on his head, glared at the boy after the rumors he had heard, and smelling his scent on Hinata. "I can't believe that new kid," he said to his dog, "He has his scent all over Hinata. I'm going to have to make sure he learns better than to mess with my woman." The small dog barked his agreement to him.

The chatter by the other students commenting and looking at the new kid, caused Iruka to tell them to quieten down. The rest of the morning went by with Iruka teaching a distracted class. Naruto ignored all of the eyes upon him as he listened to the lessons. The class was boring to him and he hated it, but he was there for Hinata. Said girl was sitting there, following the lesson.

The first portion of the day went slowly for the feral child. The class was now taking a break outside. Naruto was waiting for Hinata, who had left him there to go ask one of her classmates for their notes so she could catch up. The demon child's boredom was cut short when the Inuzuka boy stormed up to him. "What the hell is your scent doing all over MY woman?" He yelled.

**To Be Continued.**

**A/N:**

Here you go kiddies. Be sure to tell your friends. Thanks goes to my prereader Endymionrose. And remember, reviews make the world go round. (Pr. Note: They do?! I thought it was "The Law of Conservation of Angular Momentum". Newton must be rolling over in his grave.)

Legend:

Magen: Jubaku Satsu - Demonic Illusion: Tree Bind Death - Rank B Genjutsu - With this jutsu, the user can make themselves disappear, allowing them to approach their target unnoticed. Once completed, a tree and roots will grow at the target's feet and restrict their movements. Once the opponent believes that they are captured, the user can then appear above their opponent from the tree's trunk and kill the target. In the Kurama clan filler arc of the anime, this jutsu seems to be quite versatile, with a wide range of variations on the standard nature theme. In addition to the disappearing and tree-growing effects of the jutsu, the user can produce flowers, seedpods, vines and multiple trees.

Katon: Gōkakyū no Jutsu – Fire Release: Great Fireball Technique – Rank C Ninjutsu - Utilizing a large amount of chakra, a large ball of flame is produced when the user exhales in a style similar to fire breathing. The user places one hand close to the mouth, igniting the air by mixing the breath with the chakra in the hand.

Time for some Omake goodness.

Omake 1:

The jounin gate guards were still on edge about what had recently happened. The image of the demon boy was still fresh in their mind, making them jumpy. The chittering sound only served to unnerve them more. They watched as a black haired, blue eyed man, dressed in a black t-shirt, black pants, and black shoes, approached. The thing that caught them most by surprise was what the man had on his shoulder. Sitting on his right shoulder, staring right at them, was a squirrel. The pair was unsure as to what to think of this strange man. When the man reached the gate one of the jounin stopped him. "Who are you, and what is your business here?"

"I am King Sven, Lord of All Squirrels, Hoarder of the Nuts, and Keeper of the Cracker. I have come here to find someone," the man said energetically.

"King what? Listen you loon, leave now before we have to hurt you," the jounin said, annoyed.

"What! You have angered the squirrels!" King Sven exclaimed.

The pair of jounin laughed at the mad man until the chittering grew louder and the ground began to rumble. The next thing the guards knew, they were staring as a blanket of gray, covering the ground, came out of the woods. They could only say one thing as they watched the encroaching hoard. "Oh Shit!"

**Disclaimer:** I do own King Sven, Lord of All Squirrels. Be prepared to see more omakes of him later.

Omake 2:

It was late evening, about one in the morning. Asuma had decided he'd surprise Kurenai, and let himself in by picking the lock to her one bedroom apartment. After entering he quickly and quietly made his way to the door to the bedroom. He was not prepared for what he saw when he opened it. On the floor at the foot of the bed was the blankets. In the king sized bed, from left to right, laid Hinata, Naruto, and Kurenai, and none of them had a stitch of clothes on. Naruto was laying on his back. Hinata was curled up and had her head on his stomach with her arm across his waist. Kurenai had her head on his shoulder, her arm across his chest, and her breast pressed snuggly against him. It only took the man a second to notice the boy was staring right at him. When their gazes met, Naruto got a grin that relayed his message perfectly.

"Oh yeah, it's good to be the king."


	6. Chapter 6

"Talking."

_Thought._

**"Kyuubi talking."**

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Naruto's eyes narrowed at the arrogance of the Inuzuka. It didn't help him at all, that he stunk of the scent of dog. Knowing this issue needed to be nipped in the bud now, Naruto decided to make an example of him.

"Your woman? You think you can lay claim to my mate, stupid mutt?" Naruto growled, his anger rapidly escalating at being challenged by the dog boy.

"Yes, MY woman. Now I suggest you learn your place, and stay away from her, before I have to put you into the ground, permanently." Kiba growled back. By this time the exchange drew a lot of attention. Shikamaru, Chouji, and Shino, who knew Kiba's intentions, had followed him to the confrontation. Ino was sitting on a bench, her focus shifting between Sasuke, who was leaning against a tree, with his arms crossed, as he watched the exchange, and Naruto. The looks on the arguing boys' faces were starting to cause her to give them more attention. Hinata and Sakura were out of ear shot of the whole thing. Hinata chose to ask the pink haired girl for her notes, to catch up with what she missed, since she was the one with the most book smarts in the class.

"I know my place you damn mutt, and it's far above a beta like yourself. Now I suggest you walk away with your tail between your legs, before I teach you how inferior you really are compared to me!" Naruto said in a feral tone as he subtly shifted his weight forward and bared his fangs. Kiba, refusing to back down and deciding to prove his place as alpha, threw a punch at the red head. The attack only connected with air as Naruto ducked under the hook. He didn't even have time to register that his fist hadn't connected with anything before he was lifted off of the ground by a strong blow to his stomach. He jackknifed, as he flew through the air, with all of the breath knocked from his lungs. He saw a blur, flash by his side, as his wide eyes stared forward. In that moment the feral child was behind, and slightly to the side of him. Naruto, planted his feet, and slammed an elbow into Kiba's kidney, to ensure that he would remember this battle for a long time to come. The momentum of Kiba's flight was suddenly shifted by the attack. He was sent spinning, his body horizontal to the ground. The ground broke his fall, as he landed hard on his side. The demon child watched calmly as the Inuzuka laid there, coughing and clutching the area over his kidney.

By this point the battle had drawn a large crowd of the students. Many awed at the sight of the crimson eyed child dropping Kiba in a matter of a couple of seconds, giving weight to the rumors they had heard. When the initial shock wore off, the students started cheering for their respective champion as Kiba finally started rising from the ground, favoring his aching side. Hinata and Sakura, their attention drawn by the commotion, rushed over just in time to see Kiba launch his next attack. "Tsuuga!" He launched at the feral child, spinning as soon as he left the ground.

Naruto, watched as the drill-like attack approached. At the last possible instant, before he was struck, he flashed through a couple hand seals, while muttering, ''Kawarimi no Jutsu!'' A small puff of smoke, and a confused look on Akamaru's face was all anyone saw, as he was sent flying across the yard. He skidded to a stop on the ground, with a slight yelp, and whimpered in pain.

Kiba, seeing his companion in such pain, snapped, ''Die, you bastard!'' He dove at Naruto, ready to strangle him. Naruto, watching the feeble attack, grabbed Kiba's shirt and dropped to his back. As he fell back, he kicked up and monkey flipped the Inuzuka. Kiba's trajectory altered when he glanced off of a tree, with a sickening pop, as he flew through the air. He landed roughly on the ground once more, rolling and tumbling in an unceremonious heap.

Naruto rose to his feet, and glared at the grass stained kid, who was shakily attempting to stand. Kiba, on his feet again, met his gaze, and charged once more. However, due to his battered condition, his blitz was no faster than a quick walk. His arm hung swaying at his side from a dislocated shoulder, and he walked with a pronounced limp.

"Naruto-kun!" Hinata yelled in an attempt to halt the fight. Her attempt fell on deaf ears.

"It's time you learn how weak you really are compared to me, mutt," Naruto growled out as he dropped to all fours. No one could follow the boy's speed. One second he was ten feet away from the limping Inuzuka, the next he was nearly on top of him. Kiba felt his legs get viciously knocked out from under him. He began to fall forward, only for a rising Naruto to connect with an uppercut upon his jaw, sending him into the air for the third time that fight. The feral child followed into the air with a jump, keeping the same altitude as the battered Inuzuka boy. Grabbing his shoulders, the demon child kneed Kiba in his abused stomach, causing him to hunch over. With his grip still on the boy's shoulder, Naruto spun around, throwing the dog boy hard against the ground. The red head shifted his weight, causing him to fall heavily. He landed with another fist planting itself into the prone Kiba's stomach, the prostrate boy's eyes rolled back into his head, and his body went limp.

Everyone stared in gaping awe at the brutality they just witnessed. Even Sasuke's mask faltered as he stared wide eyed, his jaw hanging. Hinata ran up to the victor. "Naruto-kun! Why did you do that?" She yelled, upset that Naruto would beat one of their class mates so brutally.

The boy in question looked over, "He challenged me for having you as a mate, and attacked me. I was simply defending myself, my claim, and showing him who was alpha," he said, unconcerned by the girl's anger. The wind went out of his mate's sails with the knowledge that the whole fight had been because Kiba challenged Naruto for claim of her as a mate. Ino, who approached the fight to get a better seat, heard everything. She the first person to snap out of their shock. _He...He did that because Kiba challenged him...for his woman?!_ She thought to herself as a warm feeling grew in her stomach. She found herself unable to tear her eyes away from the feral child before her.

"What's going on here?!" An enraged voice yelled out. The students present turned to see their teacher approaching the battle site. When he saw the brutalized form of Kiba, with a limping Akamaru next to him, on the ground, he ran over to him and checked his pulse. Finding it to be strong and steady, he turned to those present. "What happened here? Who did this?" His voice rough and radiating with anger.

"I did, he...," Naruto started, but was cut off when Iruka jumped in.

"You did this?! What the hell were you thinking, brat? I...," it was Iruka's turn to be interrupted, as Naruto's vermilion eyes started to glow.

"You listen here you bastard! That...mutt...challenged and attacked me! I was just defending myself and my claim! If you don't like it, you're welcome to challenge me! Otherwise, know your place and shut the hell up!" Naruto growled out, his face betraying his feral nature. Iruka just stared at the boy, not knowing how to react. His first reaction would be to teach the demon boy a lesson, however he had heard much about the boy since his return the previous week. He didn't want to try his luck. Giving one last glare at the boy, he looked down defeated. Everyone sat in stunned silence as Naruto walked off, no one knowing what to do after all they had witnessed.

_I can beat him! I know I can! The blood of the Uchiha flows through my veins! There's no way he can be stronger than me!_ Sasuke thought as he glared at the retreating form.

Iruka, his voice tired and strained from the stress, said, "Class is dismissed for today. I need to take Kiba to get treated," with that, he lifted the boy and leapt off.

The students, now alone in the school yard, began conversing on what they had just witnessed. Hinata, regaining her cognitive abilities, rushed after her mate. Chouji turned to the boy next to him, "Hey, Shikamaru, what do you think of the new kid now?" He then turned to his bag of chips on the ground, their contents spilled, with a forlorn look on his face. The Nara boy sat there contemplatively as he played the battle through his mind again. No matter how he thought about it, he couldn't help but respect the boy's strength. Shino, both of his eyebrows raised, watched the exiting forms of Naruto and Hinata.

Ino Yamanaka was many things, confident, brash, and cunning, to name but a few, so after Naruto's fight with Kiba, she realized, that Naruto had left without taking his books. Running back to the classroom, she grabbed them and flipped open the cover of one of the books. She saw an address to return it to, if found. Smiling she walked home to plan.

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After dropping Kiba off at the hospital, Iruka made his way to the Hokage's office. Standing before the elderly man's desk, he began telling him about the Inuzuka's condition. "Naruto left him in very bad shape. When I confronted him about it he threatened me," Iruka stated.

"What caused Naruto to act in such a way?" Sarutobi asked.

"He said something about challenging him for his mate. Whatever his excuse was, what he did to that boy was uncalled for," Iruka reasoned.

Sarutobi, understanding Naruto's new instincts, took what he heard in stride. "Challenged him for his mate? Anything else?" The elderly Hokage inquired.

"I think he may have said something about the Inuzuka boy attacking him," Iruka said offhandedly.

The Sandaime eyed the academy teacher incredulously. "That's a slightly important detail to leave out. I think it would be best if we got Naruto in here to find out his side of the story," the elderly man interjected. Calling in one of his ANBU guards, Sarutobi gave him the order to retrieve the feral child. When the two were alone again, Iruka began to speak once more, only to be interrupted by Sarutobi raising a hand to silence him. "We'll wait until Naruto arrives before we continue," Sarutobi stated, as they waited for the boy to show up. The pair waited a full tweny minutes before he finally arrived.

"You wanted to see me, gramps?" Naruto asked as he entered the office. Through the door Sarutobi could see Hinata sit down. The glare Iruka gave the boy as he came in, also, didn't go unnoticed.

_I'll have to be sure to have Naruto's escort keep an eye on Iruka. He's starting to prove himself to be a little untrustworthy._ The Sandaime thought to himself. Then to answer the boy's question, "I heard about what happened between Kiba and yourself. I wanted to hear your side of the story."

"Simple, the mutt came up to me during the break, and asked me what my scent was doing on his woman. I informed him that she was my mate. He attacked me, and I put him in his place," Naruto said, unconcerned. Iruka began to protest, but was silenced, with a look, by Sarutobi.

"And what's this I hear about you threatening Iruka?" The elderly man continued, trying to get all of the details.

"I didn't threaten him. I was speaking and he cut me off, yelling at me. That is a challenge, in my eyes, so I told him he was welcome to face me if he wanted to challenge me. He didn't act, accepting his place as beta, and I left," Naruto informed Sarutobi, still not worried about the situation.

"I see. Anything to add, Iruka?" The Hokage asked as he turned to the teacher.

"That's a lie! He nearly killed the boy and threatened me!" Iruka yelled, leaning forward with his hands on the Hokage's desk.

Naruto, looking annoyed for the first time this conversation, turned and snapped at the teacher. "If I wanted that damn mutt dead, he'd be dead! Now I suggest you stop talking to the pack elder like that before I have to teach you your place!"

Sarutobi interrupted the growing confrontation before him, "That's alright, Naruto. I'm more than capable of taking care of myself. And you, Iruka. I suggest you start acting like a teacher and teach these students before I'm forced to relieve you of your position. We can't fault Naruto for defending himself. Now if teaching him is going to be an issue for you, let me know now. I'll find a replacement teacher for your class." This really irked the chunin teacher, but he knew better than to upset Sarutobi anymore at this point.

Shaking his head, Iruka spoke, in a subdued tone, "No, Hokage-sama. That won't be necessary. If there is nothing else, may I go? I would like to go check up on Kiba's condition, as well as inform his family."

"You're free to go. Just remember what we discussed here," the elderly man offered. Once the teacher was out of the room, Sarutobi turned back to the red head and sighed, "I think you could have handled that better, Naruto."

"As I said, the mutt challenged me for my mate and attacked me. That bastard challenged me for defending myself. I am the alpha of this pack, and I will not tolerate some betas challenging me!" Naruto exclaimed.

"Oh, so your the alpha? What does that make me?" Sarutobi asked curiously.

"You're the pack elder. A position of knowledge and great respect. I won't allow betas to go around challenging you either," Naruto continued.

"Really now. The pack elder huh? Well remember, this 'pack elder' can still fend for himself," the elderly man said, a hint of amusement in his voice. "You're free to go now. You don't want to keep that mate of yours waiting."

Naruto stood and waived over his shoulder as he was leaving the room. "Later, gramps." The boy walked out of the room to his worried mate.

"Everything okay, Naruto-kun?" She asked, standing up when he exited the office.

"Everything is fine, Hinata-chan. Let's go," Naruto replied to the girl. He began making his way out of the tower with her.

"What did the Hokage want to see you about?" She inquired as she looked over at the the feral child.

Naruto, still looking ahead, responded, "He wanted to find out the story of what happened earlier."

"Why did you do that to Kiba?" Her voice carried a hint of sadness.

Naruto stopped, having just exited the tower, and turned towards his mate. "He attacked me, and made it quite clear that he intended to try and take you away from me. I was just making sure he knew I was alpha, and that neither of those actions were very wise," he stated. Hinata just lowered her head as she grew more depressed. _He was worried that Kiba would steal me away? Doesn't he trust me?_ "Let's head home," he continued as he began walking again. The girl fell into stride with him, though the walk to the apartment they shared with Kurenai was silent.

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Shortly after the pair arrived, Naruto took off, saying he was going to go hunting. It didn't matter to him that Kurenai was already there and preparing dinner. The despair on Hinata's face did not escape the jounin's attention. After setting the rice to a slow boil, she joined the girl at the table where she was sitting. "Is everything okay, Hinata?" She asked.

Hinata, who was fiddling with her empty tea cup, spoke without looking up. "I don't think Naruto-kun trusts me."

"What makes you think that?" Kurenai gave the girl her undivided attention. Hinata began to relate the events that transpired at the academy that morning. "So one of the reasons he fought Kiba was because he challenged Naruto for you?" Kurenai asked to verify what she heard. Hinata nodded without breaking her gaze away from her cup. "You know Naruto isn't a normal boy right?" The crimson eyed woman inquired, and smiled slightly as the girl nodded again. "It's not that he doesn't trust you. In fact, I would say, this is not a trust issue at all. He grew up in the wild, and he is part kitsune. It's just his instincts, to protect his right to his mate from anyone that may try to take her from him. It's his nature. In fact, I would suggest on trying to find some books on animal instincts, red foxes to be more specific," the woman offered.

Hinata looked up from her cup for the first time during their conversation, and looked at the woman. "You mean, it's not because he doesn't trust me?" She asked hopefully. Kurenai shook her head in response.

Kurenai, seeing her sister figure looking relieved, stood. "I need to get back to dinner. I hope I helped," she said as she turned to go tend the the rice. Hinata sat in silence as she awaited for her mate to return.

Dinner came and went. The pair of females waited for a while, after the food was done, for the boy to return. It had been well over an hour before they gave in and ate. Night had fallen, and the girls had began growing very worried. Kurenai didn't show it, though. She chose to hide her concern in favor of reassuring Hinata. However, both knew of the hatred the village felt for the boy, especially after his return since he actually sported features that betrayed his new demonic nature.

Hours after night fell the object of their concern returned. Hinata, who had been sitting in an anxious quiet, had her attention drawn towards the apartment door as it opened. When she saw a familiar head of blond tipped red hair enter, she jumped up and rushed towards the boy. She stopped short when he turned towards her, and she saw he was covered in blood. "Naruto-kun, what happened?" She asked in fear of her concerns being realized.

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Naruto had just left the apartment. He still wasn't really used to it, but he could distinctly smell a difference in her scent as they walked away from the Hokage's tower. From what he could gather from his observations, the smell was that of sadness. He noticed, shortly after arriving, that a persons scent changed based on their emotions. Though still learning the difference, there were a couple that he could tell distinctly, and this one he had learned. He also figured he was the center of the reason based on how it intensified as she spoke to him. He didn't know why, or understand her reasons, but he chose to give her time. He left with the intention of working on his ability to smell baser emotions, and began to roam the town.

His wanderings brought him to the edge of a training field. He stopped in his training at what he heard.

"Hiashi-sama was about to take her and put the caged bird seal on her, only to have an ANBU step in and stop him," the boy with long brown hair said. Naruto could tell from his scent that he was a Hyuuga based on it's similarities with the ones he had met. The Hyuuga continued, "How did she get out of having the seal placed on her? She was made a branch member, she should be suffering like the rest of us. Her high and mightiness gets spared while the rest of us have to endure the seal."

"Neji-kun, I'm sure there's a good reason the ANBU stepped in and prevented her from receiving the seal. Have you asked her?" The girl asked, trying to reassure the boy. She wore a pink sleeveless shirt, with red rings around the shoulders and tied in the front with yellow cords, dark blue pants with white wrappings around her right leg under her weapons pouch, dark blue sandals, and a dark blue leaf hitai-ate. She had her dark brown hair done up in buns. Beyond the girl he saw a familiar figure in green spandex standing next to a young carbon copy of himself, down to the bowl cut and bushy eyebrows, punching and kicking a padded wooden post.

"Are you trying to justify their actions, Tenten?" Neji returned to the girl who was currently throwing kunai at a straw doll hanging from a rope over him. His voice held the cold tone of barely contained fury.

"I'm just saying we don't know the whole story. There may be a good reason," she said as she turned from looking at the doll to look at him.

"They're playing favoritism with Hinata!" He yelled as he jumped up. "Weak precious little Hinata. My father died because of her! Now she gets out of the suffering she is due? And even you side with her?" Naruto couldn't take what he was hearing any longer. Especially after Neji mentioned his mate in such a negative fashion. He dropped to all fours, and began running towards the Hyuuga boy. Neji didn't fail to notice the charging feral child. He was facing the direction he was coming from, and saw Naruto over Tenten's shoulder. He couldn't mistake the red hair or eyes. He knew it was the boy that somehow got Hinata to be spared her fate as a branch member. "You! This is your doing!" He bellowed out.

"Me?" Tenten asked, confused. Then she noticed that the Hyuuga boy wasn't looking at her, but behind her. Tenten turned to see what Neji was looking at, missing him entering his jyuuken stance, and saw a boy charging at them at an alarming rate of speed on all fours. When she saw the red glow in his eyes, she recognized him from the rumors. "This is Naruto? The one who killed a dozen ANBU?" She whispered to herself. She only had the time to finish that thought before she jumped sideways avoiding the boy in question.

Their confrontation ended before it had the chance to begin by the man in green spandex appearing between them. The man's sudden appearance didn't stop the feral child's charge, the peculiar actions and speech afterwards did however. His left arm held straight up, as his right was bent with his forefinger and thumb forming a ring he used to cover his eye. "Yosh! The flames of youth burn brightly in this one! Though I still can't let you and Neji-kun fight!" Naruto froze in his charge, which gave the Gai carbon copy the opportunity to arrive next to the man.

"Yosh, Gai-sensei! You are so great to preserve the spring time of youth in my eternal rival and the new boy!" The green clad boy exclaimed. Upon getting a closer look at the feral child, he continued, "You were right, Gai-sensei! The flames of youth burn so strong in him that his body even shows it! If he is as good as I hear, I may have a new eternal rival!" Naruto completely forgot what he was doing when he saw the two males in green spandex embrace each other in tears.

"Lee-kun! You make me so proud!" Gai said, tears flowing freely from his eyes.

"Gai-sensei!" Lee mimicked his trainer right down to the teary eyes.

"Lee-kun!"

"Gai-sensei!"

"Lee-kun!"

"Gai-sensei!"

Naruto, hungry and agitated, took this opportunity to leave the pair of nuts, to their own psychotic ritual, and went to make good on his word of going hunting. Neji and Tenten, despite how many times they'd seen it, still couldn't understand or do anything but stare in shock at the event that played out before them.

Dusk had taken a firm grip on the sky by the time Naruto made it to the woods. He found a deer, and still agitated about the days events, took his time hunting it, stalking it, and killing it. By the end it was really quite bloody. The blood trail extended for over a mile from his game of cat and mouse. Naruto welcomed any predator that chose to try to take his meal from him. He wanted to work out his aggression, but, much to his dismay, none came. After he finished his meal, he returned to the apartment, leaving the rest of the corpse for whatever scavengers ran across it. The guards at the gate were about to stop him to confront him, although reluctantly, about his bloody clothes, but they, themselves, were stopped. The ANBU who had been trailing the boy stepped in and informed them that the blood, they were so concerned about, was from an animal he hunted.

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"It was just a particularly bloody meal," Naruto responded to his mate as he removed his blood stained shirt. He felt it unimportant to inform her of the events at the training field.

"Are you sure, Naruto-kun? Are you okay?" Hinata asked, still unconvinced. Naruto nodded, feeling relieved that the signs of her despair had vanished. He dropped his shirt to the side, pulled his boots off, and removed his pants. Kurenai, who had entered the room to greet him, blushed slightly and turned her eyes away, as she unintentionally got an eyeful. After the bloody clothes were off and he stood, he was wrapped in an enthusiastic hug from his mate.

Kurenai was happy to see the boy return uninjured. She chose to wait until after Hinata finished her hug before she spoke up, keeping her eyes averted, "Naruto, I'm glad you're safe, but your bloody clothes don't belong on the floor. How about you go and soak them in some water," she said causing the feral child to eye her curiously. He didn't get the chance to comply before Hinata picked up said clothes, and took them to place in water to try to get out the stains.

Naruto glanced at Kurenai, wondering why she wasn't looking at him. He stepped into her line of sight and asked, ''Is anything wrong, Kurenai?'' Seeing her eyes widen as he approached, he continued, ''Did I do something to offend you?''

Kurenai's cheeks continued to redden, as she forced herself to look anywhere but at the young adonis standing in front of her, "No, Naruto,'' she answered, ''you haven't offended me, but you really...,'' she was interrupted from finishing her reply by a knocking at the door behind Naruto. Her mind derailed at the thought of what everyone would say, when it got around that she had nude boys running around her apartment.

Naruto, having no such worries, calmly turned around, walked to the door, and opened it. Upon opening the door, he saw a vaguely familiar lithe young blond. It took him a couple seconds before he recognized her from the academy, as one of his classmates, but was never introduced to her. Noticing her standing there, in a daze, he saw that her eyes were not focused on his face, and blood was starting to drip from her nose. As he opened his mouth to ask her if she needed something, she collapsed in a faint.

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After a relatively boring day helping her family at their flower shop, Ino went to her room, for a change of clothes, and a quick bath. She spent all of her spare time at the shop deciding how she was going to win over Naruto. Seeing how easily he put Kiba in his place, and stood up to Iruka-sensei, made her knees go weak, and sent a delicious shiver up her spine. She wasn't exactly sure what it was, but something about strong, forceful, men sent a shot of warmth through the center of her being.

As she dried off, from her relaxing bath, she decided to go ahead with her plans. She figured she could always help Hinata find a nice quiet boy, as an apology for stealing Naruto away from her. Conscience absolved of guilt, she pulled on her clothes, and after a quick spray of perfume, and pulling her hair into a ponytail, she headed for the door. She paused to grab Naruto's books, and told her mother that she was returning some books she borrowed from a friend.

She stood outside the apartment door, going through what she would say to him, and anything that might happen afterwards. Her thoughts ranged from Hinata going berserk, to Naruto hugging her, while declaring his undying love. Even with all her contingencies, what was about to happen, would have never crossed her mind.

Steeling her resolve, she knocked on the door. A seductive smile adorned her face, as she waited it to open. Muffled steps approached the door, and feeling her heart start to race, she couldn't help but wonder if this was what a battle felt like. She inhaled a calming breath as the ingress creaked open, and as she opened her mouth to start Operation: Steal Naruto, she suddenly lost her ability to speak.

Ino knew she was not a total square. Having learned about the birds and the bees a couple years earlier, due to her inquisitive mind, and a quick stop at the local library. She even kissed a couple boys during a game of truth or dare, that was being held during a lunch break, at the academy. However, all of this information did not prepare her to see the object of her infatuation standing at the door, in all his natural glory.

Her mouth hung open, as her eyes slowly traveled away from his face, down past his pectorals, beyond his washboard abdominals, and below his navel. As her eyes ventured a bit further south, they widened immensely, and her breath hitched. _It's much bigger than what was shown in the books at the library. I wonder what it feels like. Maybe he will let me touch it._ As her thoughts started turning in circles, she didn't realize she was forgetting to breathe, until she felt light headed and passed out.

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Naruto blinked in confusion. _What is wrong with these girls? Are they all sick? They keep passing out with bloody noses._ He stepped outside the apartment, to pick up the fallen girl, as Kurenai's eyes widened at him stepping into the hallway in his birthday suit. He brought her inside, and laid her on the couch, while Kurenai hastily closed and locked the front door. "Eh, Kurenai? Whats wrong with these girls?" Naruto had a confused look on his face, as he continued, "I mean they keep passing out, and have blood coming out of their noses."

Kurenai cringed, as she realized Naruto had never really been taught the facts of life, other than what he saw in nature and what his instincts said. She prayed for an interruption, as she tried to come up with a decent excuse. Her prayers were answered as Hinata came rushing back in, with a sheet.

"Naruto-kun, you can't run around without any..." she trailed off seeing Ino laying on the couch, with a small trail of blood running down her nose. Knowing her mates lack of taboo about clothing, she decided that the first thing they were going to do when his clothes were clean, was go shopping for some more clothes. Shaking her head, to clear her thoughts, she wrapped the sheet around Naruto in a makeshift toga.

While Hinata was dressing Naruto, Kurenai grabbed her ninja emergency medical pack. Pulling out a small vial of smelling salts, she waved them under Ino's nose. The girl, smelling the vile substance, jerked awake. Naruto put a hand to cover his nose, as the scent of the salts drifted over to him. "That is the most offensive thing I have ever smelled, Kurenai," Naruto stated. After a few seconds he added, "What plane of Hell did you find that at? Hell, Kyuubi says he never would have attacked, if you had a couple dozen pounds of that stuff set up around Konoha."

Kurenai quickly glanced at Ino, at Naruto's quotation of Kyuubi, but noticed the girl was still slightly out of it, and trying to gather her bearings. "These are called smelling salts, Naruto. They are used to awaken someone who has passed out. They are extremely effective, as you can see," she lectured. Looking at the blond haired girl, she asked, "I am Kurenai Yuuhi, and this is my apartment. Now what can I do for you, miss...?"

Ino looked from Kurenai, to Hinata, and finally to Naruto, "I am Ino Yamanaka, a classmate of Hinata-chan and Naruto-kun's. There was a minor scuffle during afternoon break today. Anyway, our class was canceled, and I noticed that Naruto had left his books behind in his rush to leave the academy grounds. I brought them here with me. I must have dropped them when I fainted outside. Did you by any chance grab them, Naruto-kun?" Naruto shook his head in a negative manner, while Kurenai went to the door to grab them. Ino seeing Naruto's odd form of dress said, "I am not easily shocked by much, but I must say, seeing you in the buff, really threw me for a loop, Naruto-kun. I hope you don't mind me asking, but why were you roaming around the apartment naked, and why are you wearing a sheet now?"

Naruto just shrugged his shoulders towards Ino, and replied, "Clothes are too restricting. I spent the last five or so years, without them. As for why I was wandering around here without clothes on, well my only pair got bloodied up while I was out hunting today, and needed to be soaked."

Kurenai walked back into the room, setting the retrieved books on a table. Ino's eyes seemed to glaze over, as her memory played back the earlier scene. After a couple seconds of silence, Hinata looked at Naruto, and said, "Naruto-kun, that reminds me, tomorrow after class we are going to have to go shopping and get you a couple changes of clothes."

Shaking herself out of her temporary fugue-like state, Ino perked up at hearing the word shopping. "Tell you what, Hinata-chan, Naruto-kun. I will go with you, since I have great taste in style, and can tell what will make a person look amazing," Ino stated. She smirked as she asked, "Tell me Naruto-kun, how do you feel about skintight black leather?"

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The following morning found Naruto and Hinata walking to the academy. Naruto, sporting his gray shirt, and dark brown pants, was glancing from their path to Hinata and back. Hinata was carrying two lunches she had prepared, as well as their books as Naruto forgot his again. She was looking at the ground worried about how the day was going to turn out, at class, especially after the prior day's happening.

Though the pair arrived at the academy early, most of the class was already present, discussing the previous day's events. Iruka had yet to show up, leaving the students to basically do as they wished. Everyone fell quiet, and turned to the new additions when Naruto and Hinata entered. Within a matter of seconds, the pair was surrounded by students asking various questions about the boy, the rumors floating around, and about his fight with Kiba. Much to their dismay, no answers were forth coming. The feral child began forcing his way through the group, leading his mate. Once the pair was through, they made their way to their seats. The group followed close behind, not giving up on their pursuit of knowledge.

Naruto's attention was drawn back to the door when a pink haired banshee stopped in the doorway, and turned to yell at someone outside of the room. "Well, Ino-pig. I'm here first. It looks like I get to sit next to Sasuke-kun," she said in an attempt to rub it in her face. The reaction she got was not what she was expecting, however.

"Hmm? What? You say something, forehead?" Ino asked, acting like she hadn't heard her.

"I said I'm sitting next to Sasuke-kun, and there's nothing you can do about it," the pink haired girl responded in a smug voice that contained a hint of agitation.

"Oh, that. You do that," Ino said in an uninterested tone.

_I don't know what her plan is, but it's not going to work!_ Sakura thought to herself. Not wanting to give Ino a chance to do whatever she was planning, she turned and ran, taking the seat next to Sasuke. Having sat down, she turned to give a smug look to Ino, which went ignored as the girl, not even looking at her, walked to the other side of the room and took a seat next to Naruto. Sakura was a little confused, but let it slide in favor of trying to converse with Sasuke, who just ignored her as he glared at the red head.

"Good morning, Naruto-kun," Ino greeted him with a smile as she took the seat next to him, opposite of Hinata.

"Hello, Ino," Naruto returned. He was thankful the group finally gave up and left to talk amongst themselves again.

Ino's smile grew as she told Naruto, "You can call me Ino-chan, Naruto-kun," at his nod, and seeing Hinata look over at her, she began to greet her, only to be cut off by Iruka entering the room.

"Okay, quiet down and take your seats," Iruka said as he walked to his desk in the front of the class. Naruto, not wanting to endure a boring day like the last one, opened one of the text books Hinata handed him and began reading, completely tuning the teacher out.

Naruto's attention was broken away from his book by a shake of his shoulder. He looked up to see Hinata standing over him with her hand still on him. "Naruto-kun, It's time for our break. I brought us lunch today. Why don't we go outside and eat?" She inquired, smiling down at her mate.

"Sure. That sounds good," Naruto returned as he set his book down and began to rise.

Ino, who was sitting at her desk watching the two, asked, "You're both going outside to eat? Is it okay if I join you?"

Hinata, who was happy that her and Naruto seemed to have made a new friend, though she was still unaware of Ino's intentions, replied, "Of course, you're welcome to join us." The blond smiled as she stood. She grabbed her lunch, and the trio made their way outside. They picked a spot, in the shade of a tree, a short distance away from the academy. The girls were engaged in idle chatter, with Ino occasionally asking Naruto about his time out in the wild. About half way through their lunch break, as the three were resting, having already finished eating, Ino decided to ask the boy something that had been bugging her.

"Naruto-kun, is it true that you really killed a bunch of jounin and ANBU at the gate when you first came back?" She inquired as she looked at the boy. Hinata, surprised by the macabre question, left it to Naruto to answer.

"I didn't kill anyone at the gate, though some of them came close to dying. I tried to only knock them out," he replied.

"Oh. So you haven't really killed anyone," Ino spoke in a dejected tone, as she let her face fall, which made Hinata more concerned about the blond girl's mental state.

"I never said I didn't kill anyone. Just no one at the gate," he spoke up. The blond girl looked at the boy again as her face lit up.

"You really have killed people? Who?" Ino asked.

"Some guy with gray hair who had the Forbidden Scroll of Seals, the two nukenin that kidnapped Hinata-chan, a group of ninja that inhabited my last den before me, and a couple of others that found their way into my territory," he replied in a level tone.

"So you killed Mizuki-sensei?" Ino inquired in obvious fascination. Naruto didn't get the chance to respond as the conversation was cut short by another student making his presence known.

"You. You're Naruto Uzumaki right? I'm Sasuke Uchiha, and I challenge you," Sasuke said as he glared down at the red head.

"Really now. You challenge me? Fine. You must be anxious to join that mutt," Naruto returned as he stood. Sasuke entered his taijutsu stance, and waited for the feral child to stand completely. Hinata prepared to stop the confrontation when Iruka, who had been watching the entire time, walked up and stepped between them.

"I'm not going to have the two of you fighting. Break's over. It's time to head inside," Iruka said. It's not that he didn't want the demon child beaten, maybe even killed. He just didn't want to lose his prized student in the process.

"No! He challenged me, and I refuse to just let it go," the feral child growled out as he pushed Iruka to the side.

"I want to see how good he is, Iruka-sensei. It won't take long," Sasuke offered, still in his stance.

"Fine, if you both insist. However, I'll only allow an exhibition match, light contact taijutsu only, and it'll wait until after class," Iruka stated. Sasuke nodded, agreeing with the stipulation, and began heading towards the academy. Naruto didn't like the idea of waiting. He started after the black haired boy, but was stopped when Hinata grabbed him.

"Let's wait until after class, Naruto-kun. I don't want you to get into any trouble," Hinata said after Naruto turned to face her. Naruto grumbled, he still wanted to settle things with Sasuke right away, but said boy was already entering the building. The pair began to walk into the academy followed shortly by a slightly depressed Ino. She was looking forward to seeing the previous and current objects of her affection fight.

The rest of the day consisted of Naruto reading, Sasuke glaring at the feral boy, and just about the entire rest of the class whispering about the fight that was going to take place after class. More than once Iruka had to stop in his lecture to silence the students.

The time everyone had been waiting for had come. The students were gathered accompanied by their perspective parent or guardian. The adults were against the idea at first. That is until they found out that the Uchiha prodigy was going to be facing off against the demon child. In the center of the human ring, standing opposite of each other, was Naruto and Sasuke. The raven haired youth stood in his taijutsu stance, while the feral child just stood there. Iruka was standing between them, filling the roll of referee.

"Begin!" Iruka called out, backing away to the side. Naruto dashed towards the Uchiha. The raven haired boy threw a round house at at the darting youth. The feral child allowed himself to fall backwards to avoid the kick, and extended his leg. A loud sickening pop rang through the air as Naruto's foot connected with the side of Sasuke's knee. The Uchiha fell forward, unable to support himself on the dislocated joint. Everyone stood in stunned silence at what had just happened. Naruto was stopped from injuring him anymore when Iruka stepped between them as the red head stood. He knelt down to aid the injured youth, and began yelling at Naruto over his shoulder. "Dammit! It was supposed to be light contact!"

Naruto looked at the back of the teacher's head with confusion playing over his features. "What's light contact?" He asked, unfamiliar with the idea. The crowd, enraged at the boy for injuring their precious Uchiha prodigy, began to close in on him. The mob situation was diffused when the ANBU, who recognized the brewing danger, stepped in.

The ANBU in cat mask spoke up, "The Uzumaki boy is under our protection. Granted he injured the Uchiha, but it was a misunderstanding. Now, unless you want to be taken in, I suggest you stand down." The hoard backed away. Yes, they were pissed, but they didn't want to be arrested.

Hinata figured discretion was the better part of valor in this situation, and grabbed Naruto's hand, leading him away from the academy. "Come on, Naruto-kun. Let's go get you some new clothes," she offered. Ino, who was sporting a smile at her crushes victory, followed the two as they walked away.

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After Ino caught up with Naruto and Hinata, they began discussing where they were going to go to get Naruto's new clothes. Eventually the girls decided on a store that Ino frequented. Naruto didn't contribute much to the conversation. The topic of the girl's discussion, and wearing clothes, didn't interest him. When the trio arrived, they received a cold welcome due to the company they kept.

"We have nothing for the likes of him!" The shop's manager exclaimed, gesturing at the boy. "You girls are welcome, but only if you come without that...thing." Naruto prepared to speak up and defend himself, only to get cut off by his blond companion.

"Now you listen here! His money is as good as anyone else's, and if you've forgotten I do come here a lot! However, if your going to treat customers this way, I'm not sure I want to shop here anymore! I should also mention, I'm quite popular at the ninja academy," Ino left the threat unspoken. After the girl's tirade the man gave in. As much as he hated the idea of the demon brat shopping in his store, he hated the idea of losing the girls at the academy, his greatest customers, even more.

The shop keep, at a loss for words at this new development, acquiesced. "Fine," was all he said before walking away. He could feel a migraine coming on, and he wanted to be far away from the loud blond when it took hold.

Ino lead the way to the section she used to day dream about taking Sasuke. Arriving at the department for ninja clothing, the blond girl sized up the boy's measurements. Giving a nod, she left the two next to the dressing room, and returned a few minutes later. A mass of black slung over her right arm, and a pair of black leather boots in her left hand. "Black leather? You were serious?" Hinata asked, not expecting what she saw.

"Why wouldn't I be serious? Here you go, Naruto-kun. Go in there and try them on. I think I got your measurements right," Ino said as she handed the clothing and boots to the boy. He entered the dressing room. When he stepped out a few minutes later, the girls could only stare, Hinata sporting a small blush, while Ino just eyed him hungrily. Naruto was wearing black leather pants, black leather boots, a black silk sash around his waist, a dull gray chain mesh vest which was open in the front, and a black band tied around his left bicep. The band was reinforced to allow it to hold kunai, and he had a pouch for shuriken stashed under his sash, hidden from view.

The girls' scent changed almost instantly as they saw him. The smell was enticing, Naruto's mouth started to water, and he found his body starting to act strangely, though he didn't know why. _What's wrong with their scent?_ Naruto mentally asked his tenant.

**"That is the smell of arousal,"** Kyuubi stated.

_Arousal?_ Naruto returned.

**"You really are daft, brat! It means their bodies are preparing for them to mate. They seem to be...pleased...with your new appearance,"** Kyuubi replied.

"I think we have a winner," Ino stated, refusing to tear her eyes away from the boy. Naruto nodded, thoroughly enjoying the scent and what it was doing to the females. After picking up a few more identical copies of the outfit, the entourage made their way to pay for it, only to encounter problems with the cashier. The manager from earlier was no where to be seen, and the loathing in the female's glare gave the girls pause, though it didn't phase Naruto. He was still riding the high of the girls' scent, and paid no attention to the woman at the cash register.

"We don't deal with your kind," she said in a cold voice.

The manager, who was sitting in the room behind the cash register with the lights out and a cold, damp cloth on his forehead, heard a familiar voice from just outside of the room. "What! We've already been through this with the manager!" He grabbed his head in pain. The yelling doing little to help his migraine.

"I don't care what you say. We don't deal with his kind here," the cashier returned.

Any farther arguments were halted as a man, the children recognized from earlier, stepped out of the back, still holding a rag to his forehead. "Check them out so they'll leave, Tsuki."

"But...," the girl began, looking at the man over her shoulder.

"No buts. Just do it so they'll go," he said. Not waiting to make sure she did so, he went back into the back room, closing the door behind him with an audible click. The female cashier tallied up their purchase which Hinata, who was carrying Naruto's money since he had no pockets, paid.

In front of the store Ino stopped the other two. "I need to run an errand. You two want to come?" Naruto shrugged.

"Sure, we'll come," Hinata stated.

The three walked down the street a few blocks, arriving in front of a weapon store. "I'll be right back," Ino said as she made her way into the store. _I can't believe Hinata paid for his clothes. I can't let her one up me!_ Ino wasn't aware of the fact that Hinata was simply carrying Naruto's money for him.

The blond returned fifteen minutes later carrying a box wrapped in brown paper, tied with some twine. "Here you go," she said as she offered him the package.

"What's this?" Naruto asked, grabbing the box.

"I had to pick me up some shuriken and a couple of kunai, and I figured I'd get you some as well," Ino said with a smile. "Well I need to go. My parents need me to work in the shop. I'll talk to you two later." The blond waved vigorously at the couple, and walked off.

The two returned to the apartment shortly after. Hinata went to the kitchen and began cooking. Kurenai, who was out on a mission, would be gone for the week. Naruto sat at the dining table and opened the package. Inside he found a dozen kunai and three dozen shuriken, all of good quality. Taking three of the kunai, he slid them under the band on his arm, and placed the shuriken in the pouch under his sash.

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The next day Sasuke arrived at the school with his leg in a cast, and walking on crutches. He kept glaring at the red head that had snapped his leg. Many of the other girls in the class were staring at the feral child in his new outfit, looks of longing in their eyes. Others, who were avid fan girls of Sasuke, simply glared at the boy. Naruto was wearing a shit eating grin as he reveled in the scent of all of the aroused females. Iruka arrived, and taught the class, only sparing the occasional glare at the demon child. He wanted to do more, but he knew that it wouldn't end in his favor.

The next three days went normal for the couple, Kurenai was still on the mission so Hinata did the cooking. After the academy, and sometimes after eating, the pair went to the training grounds to practice. When Ino didn't have to work at the shop, she went with the two of them and trained.

The third evening the pair were at the training grounds late. Ino working at her families shop, didn't get to join them, though she wanted to. Naruto and Hinata were walking home, having just left shortly after the sun had set. The two of them were walking side by side, holding each others hands, and discussing their most recent training session when their peace was interrupted.

"Wash thish? A-a demon bratth?" The horribly slurred voice came from behind them. They turned, and saw a ninja wearing a green shinobi vest, dark tan pants, and a slightly lighter tan shirt. His brown hair was a tangled mess with his hitai-ate caught up in it. In his hand he carried a bottle of liquor. "And whath doesh he haves wish him? A demon whore!" His belligerence continued as he stumbled. "Now I shink they should do the whole village a fava and shkin you bofe. Or maybe Ish shoudsh do the village a fava and kill you bosh myshelf." His glazed eyes were locked on them as he began stumbling in their direction.

Hinata felt Naruto's grip tighten and his muscles tense. She looked at his face when he let out a low growl, seeing his eyes begin glowing. "Naruto-kun, don't hurt him. I know he's saying mean things, but he's drunk. He can't help it. Please just let it go. For me?" Hinata pleaded causing the feral child to look at her. When he did she offered him a warm smile and gently squeezed his hand. As the red glow faded from his eyes, she knew she successfully convinced him. The look of anger still on his face, he turned and began walking away, Hinata falling into step beside him.

"Yoush will not walksh a-away from me!" The drunk yelled. The sound of glass breaking rang through the air. Hinata fell forward, her hand tearing away from Naruto's, and landed face first on the ground. Her back was wet, she reeked of the vile liquid, and fragments of the bottle littered the ground. The demon child spun around and let out a demonic roar that echoed through the streets. His red aura encompassed him as his eyes blazed with his vermillion chakra. The drunkard didn't even see the boy move, he just saw a red blur and felt a searing pain run through his leg, before he fell to the ground.

The ANBU in the raccoon mask began to dash from his roof top, three buildings away, only to be stopped by a hand grabbing his arm. "What are you doing?" The one in the raccoon mask asked his companion who was holding him back.

"Let's let this one slide for a minute," the one in the cat mask offered.

"Let this one slide for a minute?! What the hell are you talking about, he's killing him?!" The one in the raccoon mask returned.

"First off, we'll stop it before that happens. Second, the guy needs to learn a lesson. He broke a booze bottle over a little girl's back just because of the boy she's with. It just so happens the boy can put him in his place. Let's let him make an example of the drunkard. And honestly, how would you react if if someone broke a bottle over your fiancée's back, Hisao?" The ANBU in the cat mask inquired. Hisao couldn't help but to remember the diplomatic mission to Iwagakura. Him and his team, lead by their jounin sensei, were escorting the Daimyo. It was the second day there when it happened.

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"Hitaro-sensei, have you seen Sura?" Hisao asked the man at the table who was rereading the mission scroll. Hisao was fifteen, he had failed the chunin exam the three times he took it. He had long blue hair and green eyes. A sapphire blue shirt and pants, with black boots and an ebony belt with a black steel buckle finished his outfit. That being his choice outfit during his entire ninja career, excluding when he wore his ANBU gear.

"I haven't seen her since after lunch. She said she was stepping out to go for a walk. I told her it wasn't a good idea, but you know her. It went in one ear and out the other," the jounin instructor returned.

"Did she say where she was going?" Hisao asked. It was already evening and, if she left shortly after lunch, she had been gone for over five hours.

"No, just said she was going to walk around the village. I'm sure she's okay. Remember, she is a kunoichi," Hitaro offered. It did little to reassure the blue haired youth. Making sure his shuriken holster was filled, and loosing the clasp on his twin falchions, he took off running out the door.

In a village of people who mostly wore earth tones, his blue outfit stood out, not that he cared. It took him an hour to find any signs of his missing teammate. He was walking down the street when he heard the familiar voice. However, instead of the usual energy it had, it was sobbing. It didn't take him long to find the alley in which the voice was originating. When he looked in he saw the black haired, blue eyed girl with her knees pulled up to her chest, rocking back and forth, and crying. The side of her face was red and swollen, her lip was split, and dried blood covered her face from various scratches and cuts. Her clothes were shredded. Hisao couldn't see anything, but he was fairly certain that the shredded clothing bared every part of her. He began to approach her slowly. "Sura?" He said her name as he knelt down in front of her. When she looked up and saw a friendly face, she flung herself at him, throwing her arms around him, and began crying anew.

"Th-th-they raped me!" They girl forced out as she cried.

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Hisao shook himself from the memory of the rape of his friend, now fiancée. "I guess you're right, Ryu. People like that do need to learn their lesson."

The drunk was on the ground holding the bloody stump that was previously his leg. The adrenaline pumping through his veins causing the alcohol in his body to dilute. He could only look on in horror when Naruto lifted him using his shirt. "Please! Please don't kill me! I didn't mean it! It was the alcohol! It made me do it!" The man begged. The only response was a growl as the demon child grabbed the former drunks arm with his free hand, and tore it off.

"Oh shit, he just tore off his arm, and is he missing his leg?" Hisao spoke up after seeing the recent development.

"Fuck, you're right. I think now would be the time to step in," Ryu returned, then proceeded to jump from roof to roof, landing next to the boy, just in time to see the feral youth open the man's stomach with a backwards swipe of his claws, and start to beat the guy with his severed arm. In the distance he saw Hisao take off to retrieve medical assistance. "Naruto Uzumaki, I must insist that you stop this assault. You've done quite enough damage," Ryu said in an official tone. Naruto turned to the man, eyes still glowing, and growled. When the boy showed no signs of stopping, the ANBU reached into his belt pouch, pulled out an orb about the size of a quarter, and threw it on the ground at the youth's feet. It busted open, allowing the chemicals inside of it to mix, and a cloud of smoke exploded outward from it, filling the area nearly instantly. No wind was blowing which allowed the smoke to take a firm hold. The distraction was enough for Ryu to get behind the boy and chop the back of his neck, knocking him unconscious.

Naruto awoke, in a bed, to the morning's light flooding into the room. Looking around, he found himself in his bedroom. When he got out of the bed, he found that he was still wearing his pants from the previous day. He made his way to the door towards the common area of the apartment. Hinata, who was sitting at the table drinking tea, looked up as the door opened. "Good morning, Naruto-kun," she offered as the boy made his way to join her at the table.

"Good morning, Hinata-chan," he said as he took a seat next to her.

"Um, Naruto-kun, what happened last night? I woke up with an ANBU in a cat mask carrying us over his shoulder. I asked him what happened, but he wouldn't tell me. He put you in the bed and left, saying that he had to report to the Hokage. The last thing I remember is the drunk guy yelling something," the girl inquired.

"Last thing I remember is that bastard breaking a bottle over your back and everything going red. Until you told me just now, I didn't even know how I got back here," Naruto returned. He was a little less confused about what happened the previous night, though he couldn't consciously remember what transpired when he went berserk.

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"Then I subdued him, while he was distracted, by striking him in the back of the neck," the ANBU in the cat mask informed Sarutobi.

"So the two of you sat back and did nothing until Naruto removed the man's arm with the intention of letting him 'teach the guy a lesson?'" The Sandaime inquired.

"Yes, Hokage-sama," Ryu lowered his head in shame, "At the time it seemed like a good plan. We had no idea Uzumaki-san would take it so far, so quickly."

"I don't agree with how you handled the situation. However, I also don't agree with what he did, nor how Naruto dealt with things, but from the sounds of it, the man attacked with lethal intent. Naruto was just defending himself and Hinata. I won't hold you accountable this time, but I expect you to show better judgment in the future," Sarutobi told the ANBU before taking a pull from his pipe. "Is there anything else?" The Hokage asked.

"No, Hokage-sama," Ryu returned.

"Then you are dismissed. I have matters to tend to," Sarutobi said. After the ANBU left, the elderly Hokage pulled out the paper work he was going to need for dealing with the man who attacked the kids.

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A week passed since the incident with the drunk. The pair heard nothing of what happened that night, though people began giving him a wider berth than usual. Kurenai had arrived two days late. The reason that she gave, was that the chunin, who would have relieved her, became hospitalized with serious injuries. He was going to live, but his shinobi career was over. Aside from that it was the usual, they would spend time at the academy and training.

The pair were sitting in their seats in class conversing with Ino. The room was it's usual buzz of activity. Silence took the students, however, when someone entered the class. Everyone looked towards the door, at the sound of a small dog barking, to see Kiba. His left arm was held in a sling, a bandage was wrapped vertically around his head, running under his chin, and he was walking with a crutch under his right arm. On his head sat Akamaru, who had a splint on his right front leg and left rear one, as well as a bandage wrapped around his ribs. He hobbled his way over to his seat, going slow as not to cause his companion to fall. The Inuzuka boy had attempted to carry the dog in his jacket, as he generally did, but his bruised and battered stomach was contrary to the idea. The students just stared curiously at the dog boy, who sat in silence with his head lowered. After a moment of staring, they returned to their conversations, though for many the subject of said conversations changed.

Iruka arrived a few minutes later and, after taking his position at the front of the class, announced, "Today we're going to be practicing our taijutsu and our weapon throwing. Naruto Uzumaki, due to the fact that you've hospitalized the last two people you've fought, you won't be sparring anyone today. Now I'll read off the pairs for the taijutsu practice." He began reading off the names on his list two at a time. "Ino Yamanaka will be facing Sakura Haruno. Shikamaru Nara will be facing Hinata Uzumaki." The class broke out into an uproar.

Ino just sat there, wide eyed and jaw hanging. _H-H-Hinata U-U-Uzumaki?_ She stumbled in her mind. Naruto grumbled at the fact that the chaos made his reading impossible, and Hinata blushed. She did not expect the news to create such a reaction.

Iruka's first attempts to calm the class failed, mostly because no one could hear him over the noise. "That is enough! This is my class room and I demand silence! If you children have anything to talk about, do so on your own time!" He yelled, finally being loud enough for the class to hear him, and fall silent. "Now you have your partners. Let's go outside and begin," he said as he made his way to the door. Leading the way, he took the students outside. Once outdoors they paired up and began. Naruto, still carrying his book, took a seat in the grass next to Hinata. Sasuke took a seat on one of the benches in the yard, setting his crutches next to him. Kiba just remained inside, though watching through the window.

Hinata and Shikamaru squared off, Shikamaru mumbling the whole time about troublesome sparring matches. He threw a lethargic punch, which the Uzumaki female easily sidestepped. She then struck his arm, followed with a strike to his shoulder, and finished with one to his heart. She didn't add any chakra to the strikes, though the Nara boy accepted the fact that he lost. He just wanted to be finished. The match being over, he walked over to a vacant patch of grass and laid down to watch the clouds float over head.

Ino faced Sakura. "So billboard brow. any luck getting Sasuke to look at you? Shouldn't be too difficult with a forehead like that," Ino taunted.

"At least I'm after a real man, Ino-pig. Better than that thing you're after," the pink haired girl returned.

"He's more of a man than you know," Ino said, allowing her mind to drift briefly back to the event in the hall of his apartment. Sakura saw the distracted look on the blond's face, and took the initiative. She threw a thrust kick, which Ino swerved to the side to avoid. The blond caught her opponents leg, and lifted it. She then proceeded to sweep Sakura's supporting leg, causing the girl to fall. With Ino still holding her leg, trying to get her balance back, the Haruno girl used her free leg to knock the blond's out from under her. Both females, finding themselves on the ground, flipped up. Neither wanted the other to get an advantage over themselves. Reentering their stances, the melee continued with Ino feinting a jab at Sakura's head. The pink haired girl dodged just as Ino had predicted, leaving her open to the knee which connected with the girl's hip. The attack connected with more force than Ino had intended. Sakura took this as intentional and gave up on the idea of light contact. She adjusted her stance to put her uninjured side forward, and adjusted her weight towards the front for the offensive. She feinted low with a shovel hook, and when the blond's guard went to block the punch, she followed up with a hook from her free hand, connecting with the side of her head.

Iruka, who had been walking amongst the students, saw the exchange between the girls and, when he saw Ino's head jerk to the side, promptly decided to stop the brewing fight. He made his way over to the girls. "That's enough. This is supposed to be light contact," he said as he stepped between the two, holding his hands up to stop them. After sighing, he spoke up for the class to hear, "Okay, that's enough taijutsu practice. It's time to move on to shuriken."

The students made their way to another part of the field. In this section three straw dolls, with a small bullseye on their chest area, were attached to post in the ground. The children lined up in rows of three. Kiba and Sasuke, who were in bad condition, were exempt from this exercise as well. The students each got six shuriken to throw. Shikamaru landed one on the bullseye, the other five were in the inner circle. Chouji, up next, connected three of the six in the bullseye. Ino and Sakura tied with four in the bullseye and the other two in the inner circle. Shino and Hinata did the best out of the class, connecting all six in the bullseye. Naruto only did average as he landed all six in the inner circle. Iruka allowed the students, who already threw to begin, their lunch break early.

Naruto and Hinata sat down and began eating. It didn't take long for a crowd to congregate around them, fishing for information on the whole "Hinata Uzumaki" thing.

"Well it started when I found her being carried...," Naruto began. He was interrupted when Hinata grabbed his hand, squeezing it to get his attention.

When Naruto looked at her, she spoke. "I'm not sure if it's a good idea to tell them, Naruto-kun. They may get the wrong idea." The boy gave her a curious look. After a moment, he shrugged and returned to his meal. The questions continued, but the only response was from Hinata. "We can't talk about it," she'd say. After the fifth time of receiving that response, the students gave up, leaving the pair to their meal, and began talking of their ideas on what brought about the name change.

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The next couple of months were fairly uneventful. Kiba and Sasuke recovered from their injuries. The Hyuuga patriarch appeared before the council to get his daughter back, only to have the attempt halted by Sarutobi. Naruto had finished reading the academy's text books, and began taking other books to read. Mostly they were Kurenai's though he took a couple Hinata had retrieved from the library, and once a book Ino had gotten him. He didn't like the last one. He had no taste for romance novels. Iruka scolded the feral child about reading anything other than the material he was teaching as he gave lectures, but Naruto tuned him out. He would have raised more of a fuss, but the kid was scoring amongst the highest in the class on his tests, so he let it slide. The teacher really just didn't feel it was worth the trouble. Hinata spent most of her time training, or at the library researching red foxes.

A few days prior to the third month anniversary of Naruto's return found an elderly man in the Hokage's office. The man wore a black robe, the left side of which was hanging, revealing a white robe underneath. His right arm was missing, and he wore a bandage wrapped around his head, covering his right eye. His left eye was squinted, making it impossible to see the color, a portion of his short black hair hung over the bandage, giving it a disarrayed look, and an x-shaped scar on his chin, gave him a slightly menacing appearance.

"I have come to report that the arm we discovered of Naruto Uzumaki has finally began to decay. I feel it's imperative that we receive another to resume our research," the bandaged man stated as he stood before the Hokage's desk.

Sarutobi's eyes widened briefly at this request, until he remembered how easily Naruto just shrugged off the fact that he had lost his arm. Steeling his features, he asked the man, "Has there been any progress with the research, Danzo?"

"Nothing definitive as of yet, but we're close. It seems his blood has the properties of a panacea. Though we've yet to find out what has maintained the arm for this long," Danzo offered, reporting his findings from his mens' research.

"Really, has there been any side effects of the research?" The elderly Hokage inquired, interested in this development.

"We've yet to pinpoint the portion of the blood that offers the curative effects. Some of the...animal test subjects have had...rather unfortunate deaths from a misapplied amount of the substance, as well as the wrong substances we have isolated," Danzo returned. He had purposely left out some of the more gruesome details of the research.

"I see. I can't make an guarantee of anything, but I'll see what I can do," Sarutobi said after considering the man's request.

"Thank you. Now I must return to my work," Danzo stated, and left the office. Sarutobi, who was alone again, pulled out a paper and pen, and began writing a note.

Tsunade,

I am aware of the fact that you've had issues with Konoha in the past, and I know that you have reservations of your home village. The purpose of this note is to inform you that we may have found the means to make a panacea. The research is incomplete, however, and we could use your expertise in completing it. I'm sure you know the possible applications of such a discovery. It is for this reason that I request you put the past behind you and return.

After setting his pen down, Sarutobi folded and sealed the note. The elderly man placed the note to the side, and called in one of his ANBU guards. "I need you to retrieve Asuma for me," the Sandaime said to the boar masked guard. Nodding, the ANBU did a hand seal, and vanished into a whirlwind of leaves. Within ten minutes, a man clad in a dark blue outfit, green jounin vest, and a leaf hitai-ate on his forehead, entered the office. He had his short black hair spiked, with a beard that met with his hair line, and brown eyes.

"You wanted to see me, Hokage-sama?" The black haired jounin inquired.

Picking up the note, Sarutobi held it towards his son. "I need you to find Tsunade, and deliver this note to her. This is classified as a rank B mission," the elder Hokage offered. Asuma took the note, and tucked it away in his vest, as he nodded to his father. Having his mission, Asuma left the tower to prepare to set out to locate the legendary slug Sannin.

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Naruto was making his way to the hospital for his forth bout of donating blood. Hinata had remained at the apartment to discuss her findings at the library with their guardian. He entered the main area, and was greeted by a familiar old man. "Morning, gramps," the feral child offered as he walked up to the Hokage. Naruto failed to understand the old man's reasoning, but he insisted on being there to ensure that nothing went wrong, and Sarutobi was one of the few the boy generally wouldn't discourage him from coming.

"Good morning, Naruto," the Sandaime returned. Making their way to the room for him to donate blood, Sarutobi continued, "Naruto, I have a request. Your arm that we discovered prior to your return has finally began decaying. I normally would not ask such a thing, but with your nonchalance about regenerating it before, would you be willing to donate another one so we can continue our research?"

The boy stopped in his tracks. _It took this long for it decay? Must be from the chakra I was channeling. _Out loud he said, "I don't know, old man. That wasn't part of the agreement. I only agreed to donate blood."

The Sandaime Hokage stopped and turned towards the boy. After a moments thought, he spoke up, "Perhaps we can work out a trade. A new jutsu perhaps?"

Naruto considered the old man's offer. "Okay. I'll trade it for a jutsu, but it has to be worthwhile," he returned. The two, reaching an agreement, resumed their trek to the room for the youth to donate his blood.

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Hinata was sitting at the kitchen table with her borrowed library book, sitting closed, in front of her. She was staring at her cup of tea, lost deep in thought. Kurenai noticed that she seemed a bit off lately, and deciding to see if she could help her as her self appointed big sister, asked her to stay behind today, so they could have a sister to sister talk.

Perceiving that Hinata would not start, Kurenai asked, "Hinata, is everything alright, between Naruto and yourself?" Seeing Hinata look up she continued, "If you're having any problems, I am always willing to listen, and help you through it."

A small smile lit momentarily on Hinata's face, at the thought of having people care for her, "Thanks, Kurenai-nee. Naruto and I are doing fine, I am just worried over some of the things I read, about the habits of red foxes." With a slight sigh, she opened the book, to a bookmarked page, and slid it over to Kurenai, who read the passage with eyes that widened slightly the further she read aloud, "The red fox (vulpes vulpes) are an omnivorous species, which are closely related to the wolf (Canis Lupus), and dog (Canis Familiaras) as they all come from the Canid family. The red fox is most commonly a rustic red, though it has been known to vary from red to golden with a white underbelly. It has black tipped ears and legs, and has a distinctive bushy tail, with a white tip."

"The eyes of a red fox are vertically slit, and are commonly yellow, or gold. Their eyes have been adapted for night use, the slit pupils have little mirrors in them, allowing them to collect as much light as possible, giving them extremely good night vision. Their extreme agility for a canid causes the red fox to sometimes be referred to as the 'the cat-like canid'. The long bushy tail allows stability in complex movements and long jumps, and they have strong legs, which allow them to run over forty-five miles per hour."

"An adult red fox may reach upwards of fifteen pounds, and their body can measure between fourteen and twenty-nine inches. Their tails can add another seven to twenty inches. The giant ears of a fox, can hear the smallest sounds for over long distances. It is believed that they can hear over one hundred fifty yards away. Their black noses can scent out over six-tenths of a mile away."

"Red foxes have very long, sharp claws. They can rip and tear through many things in a short amount of time. They attack their prey in a cat-like manner, jumping high in the air, and pouncing on the prey's back. Once there, they sink their razor sharp fangs into the prey's spinal cord and snap it. Red foxes eat fruits and berries. They hunt rodents, small lizards, and fish, but have been known to take down deer fawn. They tend to be extremely possessive with their food, with the exception being dog foxes (male) feeding vixens (female) during courtship, and vixens feeding their cubs."

"Red fox territories can be as big as nineteen square miles, though in areas of abundant food supply the territory is usually no bigger than five square miles. Territories have been correlated with the male foxes body size, as well as pressure from other males. Several dens are utilized within their territory, and are usually connected to one larger main den. The main den being used for winter living, and birthing of the kits. They defend their territory from other foxes, and some other predators."

"Red foxes have been considered a monogamous species, however evidence shows that the bigger males lean towards polygamy. This is thought to also be based on food surplus, and the distance between the male and females dens..."

After reading this last bit, Kurenai looked up at Hinata in shock, "Is this what worries you?" She asked. Upon seeing Hinata nod, she questioned, "Has he shown any affection to anyone else? Has he started putting his scent on someone else?" Seeing Hinata shake her head in the negative, she added, "Then I don't think you have anything to worry about at this time. The questions you should be asking yourself is, if there ever comes a time when he does, what will you do? Will you support him? Will you fight him over it? Is Naruto even aware that he might have instincts towards polygamy? And finally, are you going to discuss this with him?"

Hinata's eyes widened at the thought of talking to Naruto about this. As much as she wanted to know, she was afriad of the consequences of his answer. She shook her head as she said, "No, I don't think I could talk to him about this yet."

Kurenai sighed at Hinata's response even though she figured that would be the answer. Still she had to try to get her to talk to him. "You know that if he is ignorant of his instincts, and he does start having feelings for another girl, that he might have been able to avoid if he was aware. Then it will be your fault, for not talking to him."

Hinata sighed, "I know, but he swore he would never leave me, and demons are honor bound by their word. Even if he is only a half-demon, he is just as bound to it as a full demon is."

"Just because he would never leave you, doesn't mean he won't be polygamous," Kurenai stated. She saw Hinata smile, as if she had an epiphany.

"I realize that Kurenai-nee, but I...love him. I feel stronger when I am around him. As to the rest, I guess I will cross that bridge when I come to it. If I come to it, who is to say he will be polygamous."

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Hinata laid in bed, snuggled up to her mate. Unable to sleep, the conversation with Kurenai, from earlier that day, still stuck in her head. "Naruto-kun, are you awake?" Hinata asked in a soft voice as she looked up to see her mate lying next to her. She could only make out his silhouette against the dim light poring through their bed room window.

"Yeah," came the reply.

"I read up on your instincts today," she said, trying to built up the courage for the purpose of this conversation.

"Hmm? Anything interesting?" he inquire. Hinata could feel him shift to face her.

"Mostly about how territorial you are, and about how good your eyes and sense of smell is," she returned. _I-I can do this. I have to do this._

"Anything else?" He asked as he wondered why she was telling him what he already knew.

"N-no, th-that's it," she stuttered. _Why can't I tell him? Why can't I ask him if there's anyone else he's interested in?_

"Okay then. Good night, Hinata-chan" Naruto offered as he rolled back over.

"Um, N-Naruto-kun?" Hinata attempted to gain the boy's attention again. _Why is this so hard?_

"Hmm?" His reply was soft, indicating that he was on the verge of dozing off.

"G-g-good n-night," she said, then turned over to face away from him. _I can't! I can't do it! I'm too afraid! _She curled up and began to silently cry, causing her to miss her partner's even breathing as he had fallen asleep.

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The next two months passed, and the academy's graduation was growing near. Hinata had a better grasp of Naruto's instincts, but was still torn up on the inside about what she had discovered about the larger red foxes tendency towards polygamy. Naruto was currently scoring at the top of his class in the academics department, though he was only doing average with weapons and taijutsu. Iruka felt his feral combat style was unfitting for a ninja, and the feral child favored his claws over the ranged weapons. During the months Kurenai was acting different, and Naruto noticed that her scent was filled with sadness. When asked, she just replied that she was feeling down, and not to worry about it. Ever since the fight between Naruto and Kiba on his first day of class, the Inuzuka avoided the demon child. After he recovered, he intensified his training, determined to reacquire his alpha status.

Naruto found himself making his way back to the Hokage's tower. As soon as he had left the academy, he was greeted by a boar masked ANBU. He was informed by said ANBU that the Sandaime had requested his presence. A few minutes later, the youth entered the elderly man's office. "Wanted to see me, gramps?"

"Hello, Naruto. I think I may have found a jutsu to exchange for another of your arms. I discovered it in one of the scrolls in my personal library. It's a forbidden jutsu known as Honemi Bunshin. The way it works is that the user of the jutsu, upon doing the seals, removes a portion of his flesh, which begins to grow into a clone. The process generally takes twenty four hours. This jutsu was forbidden due to the requirement of the ninja using their flesh, but it would capitalize on your regeneration," Sarutobi said, handing Naruto the scroll with the details of the jutsu. The youth took a minute looking over the scroll before he made his decision.

"Okay, old man. I'll make the trade. When I donate tomorrow, you can take an arm," Naruto offered as he pocketed the scroll. "Is there anything else?" He inquired.

"No, that's all I needed. I'll have everything set up for tomorrow," the old man returned. Naruto left the office, waving as he went.

Three hours passed, with Sarutobi doing paper work, when the elderly Hokage got his next visitor. A knock at his door drew his attention. "Come in," he called out as he retrieved his pipe and began loading the tobacco into it. Asuma entered the office. "Hello, Asuma. How did the mission go?" He asked while he packed the contents of his pipe.

"It went well, Hokage-sama. I found Tsunade-sama, and delivered the letter," he returned. Pulling out a letter, and handing it to the elderly man, he continued, "Here's her reply."

"Did you have any difficulty finding her?" Sarutobi asked as he lit his pipe with a match. Asuma went on to tell of the seven villages he went to before he found the woman. "I see, and you found her in a casino as expected. Good job," Sarutobi offered. He reached into a drawer in his desk, pulled out a sealed envelope, and handed it to the black haired jounin. "Here's your marker for the mission pay."

"Thank you, Hokage-sama," Asuma said, taking the marker. "Is there anything else?" He inquired.

"No, you're free to go," Sarutobi returned. Asuma bowed to his father, before he left the office. Alone again, the Hokage opened the letter from Tsunade, and began reading.

Sarutobi-sensei,

I'm loathing of the idea of returning to the village after what happened. However, I can't discredit the possibilities of such a discovery as what you mentioned in your letter. I will return to offer my assistance, but I'm indisposed at this point in time. I should be able to arrive in about three months time. One last thing. If I find out this was just a ploy to get me to return, there will be hell to pay.

Folding the letter and taking another pull from his pipe, Sarutobi leaned back in his chair. He smiled as he thought, _Same old Tsunade._

**A/N:**

Here you go, kiddies. The next installment of this masterpiece. Many thanks to Endymionrose for his excellent work on this chapter. Enjoy.

**Legend:**

Honemi Bunshin no Jutsu - Flesh and Bone Clone Technique - Rank A Forbidden Jutsu - With this technique the user of the jutsu creates a clone by using his flesh. The process and growth of the clone usually takes around twenty four hours. This jutsu was forbidden due to the requirement of flesh to create the clone. Unlike the Kage Bunshin, the Honemi Bunshin can take hits and injuries, and will even die. However, upon death the clone decays at an accelerated rate, turning to dust within an hour.

**Omake 1:**

King Sven, having made his way through the gates, listened as the chittering behind him quickly over took the screams of the guards. "It is unwise to anger the squirrels!" He decreed to any who would listen. As he wandered the streets he received many odd looks. Or was it the squirrel on his shoulder.

He was walking through the shopping district of the village when one of the more brazen members made their way up to him. "Um, sir? Are you aware of the fact that you have a squirrel on your shoulder?" The elderly man asked with a cocked eyebrow. In response to the man's inquiry, the squirrel turned and started chittering into the man's ear.

When the chittering stopped the black haired man focused back on the wrinkled man before him. "He says to piss off and mind your own damned business," King Sven, Lord of All Squirrels, Hoarder of the Nuts, and Keeper of the Cracker said, then turning to the squirrel on his shoulder, continued, "That's not very nice. As true as it may be."

"Excuse me?!" the elderly man exclaimed in an indignant tone. "What is your problem you psycho! I was just trying to be nice!"

"What! You have angered the squirrels! Now feel their wrath! Squirrel hoard the nuts!" The eccentric man said, pointing at the one who upset his minions. Upon the last sentence, the squirrel launched himself from the man's shoulder, landing on the elderly one before him. It quickly made it's way into his shirt and ran around, causing the old man to laugh and try to catch it. The laughter promptly stopped when the fuzz ball made it's way into his pants and chomped his 'nuts.' The old man's eyes crossed as he grabbed his package, the squirrel escaping seconds before to find it's way back onto his master's shoulder. The elderly citizen fell to the ground. With his path no longer blocked, King Sven made his way past, to resume his search for what he was there to find.

**Omake 2:**

Naruto's attention was drawn back to the door when a pink haired banshee stopped in the doorway, and turned to yell at someone outside of the room. "Well, Ino-pig. I'm here first. It looks like I get to sit next to Sasuke-kun," she said in an attempt to rub it in her face. The reaction she got was not what she was expecting, however.

"Hmm? What? You say something, forehead?" Ino asked, still reading her book as she acted as if she hadn't heard her.

Sakura turned back to her rival to reply. Um._..Where did that book come from? And what's Icha Icha Paradise for that matter?_ She wondered as she stared at the orange book in Ino's hands.

(Later that evening.)

"So, Kakashi-sensei, do I get my mask yet?" Ino asked the gray haired jounin.

"Not yet. You arrived on time, didn't have an excuse, and Sakura didn't complain about you acting so cool. Keep up the good work though," Kakashi returned to his new student in 'Kakashi's school of pissing off everyone by acting like he didn't care.'

**Omake 3:**

It was lunch break at the academy. The majority of the class was outside enjoying the pleasant weather of the day, leaving the rookie nine in the class room alone. Too pass the time, they had decided to enjoy a game of truth or dare.

"Okay, it's my turn," Sakura said, having just answered her question. "I choose Ino. Truth or dare?"

Ino thought for a moment, "Truth!"

Sakura, who was slightly disappointed as she was hoping she'd choose dare, asked, "Have you slept with any boys?"

Ino turned to the girl, a firm look on her face, "No," she returned. Sakura was slightly disappointed at having her attempt at embarrassing her rival fail. "Okay, so it's my turn. I choose Naruto-kun. Truth or dare?"

"Um...dare?" Naruto offered, still not completely grasping the game. No one was able to miss the devious smile that spread across the blond's face.

Remembering Naruto's dislike of clothing, Ino stated her dare, "I dare you to strip off your clothes." Everyone, excluding Hinata, Ino, and the boy in question, gasped at the dare. They certainly didn't expect Naruto's cheer as he began tearing his clothes off. Kiba, Shikamaru, Chouji, and Shino promptly turned their heads away. Sakura stared wide eyed, slightly protesting what was happening, though the voice of inner Sakura promptly shut her up. Hinata stared proudly at her adonis as he presented himself to the class, and Ino stared hungrily at the boy. However, all of the festivities ended when Sasuke got a nose bleed, his eyes rolled into the back of his head, and he passed out.

"Um, Sakura," Ino began as everyone gathered around the unconscious boy as they looked down at him, "I think you're going to have to find a different man."

**Omake 4:**

Kurenai's cheeks continued to redden, as she forced herself to look anywhere but at the young adonis standing in front of her, "No, Naruto,'' she answered, ''you haven't offended me, but you really...,'' she was interrupted from finishing her reply by a knocking at the door behind Naruto. Her mind derailed at the thought of what everyone would say, when it got around that she had nude boys running around her apartment.

Naruto, having no such worries, calmly turned around, walked to the door, and opened it. Upon opening the door, he saw a purple haired jounin standing before him. "Damn! Looks like the party already started," Anko complained as she looked at the nude youth before her. Yelling beyond the boy at her friend, Anko continued, "Kurenai, you were supposed to wait for me! And why didn't you tell me he was that big?" The last part said as she focussed on the his privates. By this point in time there were many eyes watching her all through out the hall of the appartment. Pushing the boy in, and using the large bottle of dark liquor in her hand to push the door to, failing to close it, she shouted once more, "So, we about ready to get this threesome going? I've got the booze." When Hinata rushed in, wide eyed, Anko amended her previous statement, "Okay, foursome. Didn't know you were into little girls, too." Kurenai just stared at her friend, mouth gaping at the scene.

_She has one twisted sense of humor._ The crimson eyed jounin thought once her brain jump started again. "Okay, Anko. That wasn't fun..." Her complaint was halted as she saw the, now half empty, bottle of booze in the woman's hand as she had mouth locked with the red heads, causing her brain to lock up again.

No one got rest in the appartment that night as the passionate sounds of wild, unbridalled sex rang through the halls. None of the participants had even bothered to notice that, not only had the door not been completely closed, but it had drifted open, allowing any who walked by a show that Jiraiya would have paid good money to see.


End file.
